


Three Days

by afteriwake



Series: All Of Time And Space [36]
Category: Doctor Who, Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Big Bang Challenge, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-20
Updated: 2013-08-21
Packaged: 2017-12-24 04:06:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 30,452
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/935119
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afteriwake/pseuds/afteriwake
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>One morning the world wakes up and the entire planet has been invaded by small black cubes. The Doctor, Sherlock and the others decided to investigate, and so the Doctor moves in with Sherlock and Amy, and the wait begins. These are three days in the slow invasion.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> My entry for **scifibigbang** at Livejournal, and so far the longest complete story I have ever written. This is a Wholock rewrite of the Doctor Who episode "The Power Of Three." Many thanks to my betas **lotl101** and **Amanda** for their careful editing of my story that made it much better than what I had originally written.

**Day 1**

Sherlock felt something balancing on him before he woke up. At first he thought Amelia had set something on top of him absently, but then he opened his eyes and saw that she was sound asleep next to him. He rolled over onto his back and whatever it was fell off. It took him a moment to become completely alert, and then he sat up and looked around. His eyes zeroed in on the alien object that had been on top of him, and as he looked around he saw several more scattered around the room. “Amelia,” he said quietly.

“Sherlock, I got in at three in the morning,” she grumbled quietly, eyes still closed. “I want to sleep.”

“You need to wake up,” he said insistently.

“Is something wrong with Melody?” she asked, her eyes snapping open as she sat bolt upright.

“Someone is playing a prank on us,” he said.

“What do you mean?” she asked with a yawn. He leaned over and picked up what had been on top of him; it was a small black cube, about the size of a small apple or orange. She finished yawning and then stretched for a moment before focusing on the object in his hand. “What is that?”

“I don’t know, but they’re all over the room,” he said, pointing to her their dresser.

She sat up more and looked around, taking it in. “I count at least five.”

Dimly they could hear the door to the common room slam shut and footsteps came closer to their bedroom door. “Sherlock! Amy!” John called from the other side. A moment later a baby’s cry was heard. “Sorry,” he said after a moment.

“I’ll go get her. You go deal with your friend and take away his key,” Amy said with a sigh, pushing back the covers.

“He’s your friend as well,” Sherlock pointed out, doing the same.

“Well, he was your friend first,” she said. She went to the back of the door and grabbed her dressing gown as the volume of Melody’s crying increased briefly and then subsided. She pulled open the door and glared at John, who had the decency to look sheepish. “If you played this prank on us I’ll kill you,” she said quietly.

“What prank?” he asked.

“The black boxes all over our bedroom,” Sherlock said as he came up behind his wife, reaching behind the door for his own dressing gown.

“But that’s the thing. It isn’t just a prank on you. They’re everywhere.” Sherlock raised an eyebrow. “They were in our flat too, and Lorna and I saw them all over as we got here.”

Amy looked over and saw Lorna coming out of Melody’s room, holding the little girl. “It’s true. They just suddenly appeared all over the place, and news reports are saying it’s like this all across the world,” she said as she rubbed Melody’s back before handing her to her mother.

“So it’s not a prank,” Sherlock said, his gaze zeroing in on the two cubes in the hallway. As the five of them headed into the sitting room he saw even more scattered all over the place. “This is peculiar.”

“Maybe Greg knows something. Or maybe your brother does?” Amy suggested, going to the table. She set Melody in her high chair and then went to the refrigerator, opening it and pulling out some juice for Melody.

“They might,” he said before heading back into the bedroom and grabbing his phone. He dialed Lestrade as he drifted over to the window and peeked out. The street was covered in black boxes, and people were standing around gawking. The minute Lestrade picked up Sherlock spoke without waiting for an answer. “Have you seen the boxes?”

“I was awake when they appeared, being on call early this morning,” he said, sounding slightly bewildered. “Came out of nowhere, the whole lot of them. No one can explain it. We’ve been fielding calls from concerned citizens for the last half hour, and I expect it will only get worse.”

“So Scotland Yard has no idea what these are,” Sherlock said.

“I was rather hoping you might help us figure it out,” Lestrade said. “I know it’s not a homicide, but it’s a mystery, which is right up your alley.”

“I’ll try and do what I can, but I may need to call in outside help.”

“Call whoever you need to, get whatever help you need. I don’t want the entire city freaking out.”

“Very well. Let me get situated and I’ll come in shortly.” He hung up the phone.

“Your outside help is going to be the Doctor, isn’t it?” Amy asked shrewdly.

“If he’ll pick up his phone. Since Anthea stopped traveling with him he’s been scarce.” He looked at the Doctor’s contact on his phone, but after a moment he pulled up his brother instead. 

Mycroft picked up on the second ring. “I do not know what the boxes are, dear brother,” he said. Sherlock could tell he had not awoken his brother this early in the morning.

“Does the government have any idea?” Sherlock asked.

“None whatsoever. They’re as perplexed by this as the general public is. But I’ve been assured UNIT is on top of it, since it appears to be alien in nature. That’s the simplest explanation, at any rate.”

“You know what that means,” Sherlock said.

“Elizabeth has already tried contacting him.”

“Elizabeth?” Sherlock asked, slightly confused.

“I thought she had told you her real name,” Mycroft said after a brief pause.

“You mean Anthea,” he replied.

“Yes. She’s been on the phone trying to reach him since one of them dropped on her breakfast plate, but he hasn’t answered. You might have better luck as his father-in-law. Or perhaps your wife could call.”

“I don’t think you need to call him,” John said from Sherlock’s side. Sherlock raised an eyebrow and John pointed out the window. “The TARDIS is across the street, and he’s on top of it doing…something.”

“He’s here, across the street,” Sherlock said. 

“We will be over shortly,” Mycroft said.

“Very well. I’ll get him to come inside,” Sherlock hung up on his brother and then looked around. “Amelia, our son-in-law is outside. Do you want to go fetch him?”

“I’m a wee bit busy with Melody right now,” she said, and when he turned he saw she had gotten out a jar of food. “Just because something strange has happened doesn’t mean she isn’t hungry.”

“I’ll go get him,” Lorna said.

“Thank you,” Sherlock said with a nod. Lorna left and Sherlock turned back to the window. “Mycroft is on his way over, with Anthea.” Then he paused. “I mean, Elizabeth.”

“So that’s her real name?” John said, raising an eyebrow.

“She didn’t tell you?” Amy said.

“No,” both men chorused.

“Oh. I thought for sure she had,” Amy said before sitting down next to Melody to feed her. “I found out a week ago, when we had lunch together.”

“You could have told me,” Sherlock said.

“Well, I guess I figured your brother would,” she said with a shrug before turning her attention to Melody. “I mean, she is his girlfriend after all. You two must talk about her and I, right?”

“No, we don’t,” Sherlock said.

“Huh.” Amy said, slightly surprised. “Well, we talk about the two of you.”

“I’m not sure if I want to know the nature of those conversations,” Sherlock said with a frown as John chuckled.

“It’s probably best if you don’t,” Amy said with a grin.

Sherlock concentrated on the scene outside the window. He watched as Lorna walked up to the TARDIS. After a moment the Doctor looked away from whatever he was doing and clambered down. Sherlock watched as he gave Lorna a hug, which she returned, and then they turned around and headed back inside. A moment later two sets of feet could be heard coming up the stairs. “Hello, all!” the Doctor said jubilantly as he came inside. Sherlock saw he was carrying a cube. “I see all of you are up. Martha told me about the cubes and I had to come see for myself. She and Mickey are on their way.”

“We’re about to have a full house, aren’t we?” Amy said with a sigh.

“Who else is coming?” the Doctor asked.

“My brother and Elizabeth,” Sherlock said.

“So she finally told you her real name,” the Doctor said with a smile.

“Actually, Mycroft let it slip,” John said.

“Oh,” the Doctor replied.

“I already knew,” Amy said with a chuckle.

“Keeping secrets from your husband is not a good idea,” he replied, his smile turning into a frown.”

“Not my secret to tell,” she pointed out.

“Touché,” the Doctor replied. “But yes, I believe you’re about to have a full house.”

“Will someone finish feeding Melody so I can change out of my pyjamas?” Amy said.

“I will,” Lorna said.

“Thank you,” Amy said with a smile. She looked over at Sherlock. “You might as well do the same.”

He nodded. “I suppose so.” The two of them drifted towards their bedroom, and Amy nearly tripped over one of the cubes. She made to kick it out of the way, but Sherlock put a hand on her shoulder. “I wouldn’t.”

She looked at him. “Why?”

“We don’t know anything about them,” he said. “Until we have more facts I wouldn’t mistreat them.”

She glared for a moment, then sighed. “Fine. But these things are going to be bloody annoying.” She picked it up, then carried it over to the hall table before setting it down. “With Melody just starting to walk I don’t want these things in her path.”

“I feel the same way,” he replied, picking up the other cube that was in the hallway. He slipped it into the pocket of his dressing gown before they got to the bedroom. The two of them changed quickly, and by the time they were done Martha and Mickey had arrived, with Mycroft and Elizabeth right behind them.

“Does anyone mind if I make some breakfast?” Amy asked as she walked back into the kitchen. Everyone shook their heads and murmured that it was fine, so she went to the refrigerator and pulled out the eggs. “Does anyone else need to eat? If I’m cooking I might as well feed everyone.”

“We haven’t eaten yet,” John said, looking to Lorna, who nodded.

“We didn’t either,” Mickey replied.

“After one of those cubes fell on my plate I threw my food away,” Elizabeth said.

“Then I’ll make pancakes for everyone,” Amy said with a nod. She went to the island and picked up a cube that was sitting there, bringing it to the kitchen table and setting it down. “So, what do we actually know about these things?”

“They came out of nowhere,” Elizabeth said. “The one that landed on my food materialized out of thin air, then gently lowered down. I was staring in shock, or else I would have moved my plate.”

Mickey nodded. “We were up with Elisha when they appeared. We saw the exact same thing.”

“Lestrade said that as well,” Sherlock said. “I don’t think he believes in aliens, but he is slightly shaken. I could hear it in his voice.”

“Well, they definitely aren’t from Earth,” the Doctor replied before turning to Martha and Mickey. “What’s UNIT’s take on this?”

“Possible alien threat. Kate would really love to have your help with this,” Martha said.

“Kate?” he replied.

“Kate Stewart,” Mickey said. “We called her before we called you. She’s our boss, and we wanted to be sure that we should involve you.”

“Stewart,” he said with a smile. “I believe I would like to meet the Brigadier’s daughter.” He looked over at Sherlock. “And I’m sure Scotland Yard wants you consulting?” Sherlock nodded. “Very well then. We’re on the case!”

“Eat first,” Amy said from the kitchen. “I’m not making all this food for myself.”

“You’ll have the full cooperation of the British government,” Mycroft said with a nod. “I’m eager to know what these boxes are myself.”

“Perhaps you could help,” the Doctor said. “A man as intelligent as yourself should be an asset.”

Mycroft nodded slowly. “If my other duties will allow.”

“Can we all help?” Lorna asked, turning her attention away from Melody, who had just finished her food.

“I don’t see why not,” the Doctor replied. “I know Sherlock usually prefers to work with John, but you wouldn’t mind help from your brother, right?”

Sherlock looked over at Mycroft. “I suppose we could work together,” he said slowly. 

“Excellent! Lorna, Elizabeth, you two may assist me.”

“And what am I, chopped liver?” Amy called from the kitchen.

“I would never leave you out, dear Amy,” he said, going into the kitchen and putting an arm around her shoulders. “I was just hoping you might have an extended conversation with your daughter. She’s ignoring my calls, but she might answer a call from her mother.”

“How am I going to contact her if she’s in the 51st century?” Amy asked.

“She’s not. She’s here in London, observing at St. Bart’s.”

“That’s news to us,” Sherlock said, surprised.

“It makes sense, though, since Melody’s here. River can’t cross her own personal time stream, remember?” Amy said. Then she turned back to the Doctor. “Give me her number and I’ll call her.”

“Is she acquainted with a Molly Williams?” Sherlock asked.

“I believe she mentioned a Molly when I talked to her last week, yes,” the Doctor said with a nod.

“Then John and Mycroft and I shall head to St. Bart’s as soon as we’re done at Scotland Yard. Molly might be of some use in this. She is rather intelligent for a pathologist.”

“Say hi to her husband for me,” Amy said.

“I planned on avoiding Williams altogether,” Sherlock said. “I still haven’t forgiven him for trying to hurt you and Melody.”

“He was brainwashed, Sherlock,” Amy said, rolling her eyes. “I already forgave him and moved on. You need to do the same.”

“Not bloody likely,” Sherlock muttered.

“What was that?” Amy said, narrowing her eyes at her husband.

“Nothing,” he said.

“Look, we’re friends, he and I, and I’m friends with Molly too. Learn to live with that,” Amy said, putting her mixing spoon down with more force than she intended. Batter splashed onto the counter. “Damn,” she murmured.

The Doctor looked from Amy to Sherlock, then back to Amy, worry in his eyes. Sherlock noticed, and he shut his eyes and counted to ten. “I will be civil to him if I see him at the hospital,” he said when he opened his eyes.

“Thank you,” Amy said with a slight smile before she went to go get something to clean up the mess with. “Everyone get comfy. It’s going to be a little while till breakfast is ready.”

The Doctor squeezed Amy’s shoulders once and then went back to the common room. He glanced at Sherlock, then nodded towards the hallway as everyone made themselves comfortable. Sherlock followed him over there. “Are things all right between you and Amy?” he asked, wringing his hands slightly.

“We had a row over being invited to their wedding, and it’s been a touchy subject ever since,” he said with a sigh, looking down and pinching the bridge of his nose. “Amelia went while I stayed at home with Melody. She gave me the cold shoulder for a week after that.”

“From what little River has told me about her own past, Rory is a rather significant figure in it,” the Doctor said slowly. Sherlock looked up sharply. “I believe now is when he finds out the entire truth, about me and River and all of it, and from what I understand he’s a great asset in figuring things out. I believe that’s why River’s here observing, to make sure history goes according to plan. Once that happens, your relationship with him isn’t so strained.”

He sighed. “I don’t like the idea of my wife being friends with her former fiancée,” Sherlock said after a moment.

“You do realize she never loved him, right? She’s only loved you, since she was very young. You have no reason to be jealous,” the Doctor said, surprised.

“And yet I’m jealous all the same,” he said quietly.

The Doctor smiled slightly. “You should tell her that.”

“That would just lead to another fight,” he said.

“I doubt it,” the Doctor said, clapping him on the shoulder. “I don’t like seeing you two fight. You’re my family now, after all. The only family I have left.”

Sherlock looked at him. “I’ll tell her, if you think it will help.”

“I do.” The Doctor grinned at him. “Now come on. There’s going to be food to eat and plans to make. Let’s not be late to the party.”

\--

Two hours later Sherlock, John and Mycroft went to the morgue at St. Bart’s. Sherlock knew Molly would be there, as she always was, and he supposed there was a good chance Williams would be there as well. He needed to get over the irrational feeling of jealousy he had towards the man if he didn’t want a strained marriage. And he was in luck, he supposed; both Molly and Rory, as well as River, were there, hunched over one of the cubes. Sherlock cleared his throat and Molly jumped slightly. “Sherlock!” she exclaimed.

“Hello, Molly, Williams,” he said with a nod. “River.”

“Hello,” his daughter replied with a slightly impish grin.

“You two know each other?” Rory asked, looking from River to Sherlock.

“Oh, _quite_ well,” River said with a wink. Sherlock resisted the urge to roll his eyes. His daughter was going to be the death of him one of these days.

“Greg said you were going to try and figure this out,” Molly said, trying to recover from being startled.

“Yes. I’ll be working with the government and the military.” He nodded to Mycroft and John. “We thought we might use some of the equipment here at the hospital to study them.”

“Your room is empty, I suppose, since River’s here with us,” Molly said.

Sherlock raised an eyebrow towards River, who chuckled. “It’s a very nice room. Wonderful experiments have been run there. Groundbreaking, Earth shattering, history changing—“

“River, that’s enough,” Sherlock said wearily, giving up the temptation to roll his eyes and doing just that.

Rory glanced at him. “Just how do you know River, anyway?” he asked, narrowing his eyes slightly. “You don’t have… _intimate_ …knowledge of each other, right?”

Sherlock nearly choked on his next breath and sputtered slightly. River watched with amusement for a moment before shaking her head. “No. He and Mycroft are members of my family.”

“I didn’t know that,” Molly said. “How are you all related?”

The amused look dropped off River’s face, and Sherlock took the opportunity to smirk. It was going to be interesting to see how his daughter responded. Finally, she sighed. “Sherlock is my father, and Mycroft is my uncle,” she replied.

“How is that possible?” Rory asked, confused.

“You remember the Doctor, the man Amy talked about as she was growing up?” River said to Rory and Molly.

Molly shook her head, but Rory nodded. “Yeah. He showed up in Leadworth when I was seeing coma patients walking around.” he said. Molly looked at him, and when he saw he shrugged slightly. “It was a while ago, back when Amy and I were dating. You were already here in London then.”

“I always thought he was a figment of her imagination,” Molly said with a frown.

River smiled. “Oh, he’s very real. He’s my husband, actually. Long story short, I’m Amy and Sherlock’s daughter Melody a few regenerations later. I was a rather…special…little girl.” Then she smiled slightly. “I’m still rather special now, to be honest. It’s what I get for being part Time Lord.”

“You’re saying you’re part alien?” Molly said. “How can that be possible?”

“The details aren’t important,” Sherlock said. “Just know that she’s telling the truth. River is my daughter.” Then he turned to River. “Was now the time you were supposed to tell them?”

She nodded. “Day one of the alien invasion, yes.” She turned back to Molly and Rory. “Don’t look too shocked, Molly. You’ll probably meet my husband today. My mother already called and told me he was here.” Then she turned back to Sherlock. “You know how he is with a mystery. He’s worse than you, Dad.”

Rory nodded slowly. “You know, this actually makes sense. You knew far too much about me from very few conversations with me,” he said as he turned to River. “And you never mentioned you knew Amy so I’d wondered how you knew. She must have told you stories, didn’t she?”

River nodded. “I did let a few things slip I probably shouldn’t have, didn’t I?” she said with a sigh. “Ah, well. Even I make the occasional mistake.”

“If I hadn’t been staring at little black boxes that appeared out of nowhere I’d say you were all mental,” Molly said, still slightly dazed. “I take it this is a very big secret?”

River shook her head. “Probably not as secret as we would like. There are a few others who know, but no one who would put me in harm’s way.”

“Is this tied to when I blacked out and tried to hurt Amy and your daughter?” Rory asked Sherlock.

He nodded. “You were brainwashed by an organization known as the Silence. They wanted my daughter, and they sent you after her.”

“Huh,” Rory said. Then he turned to River. “I’m sorry about that.”

“Forgiven,” River said with a smile. Then she turned to her father. “By most of the Holmes family, at any rate.”

“I’m working on it,” Sherlock said with a sigh. Rory started to say something, but Sherlock raised a hand. “Don’t. I’ll get over it eventually, I’ve been told. Just give me time.”

“Fair enough,” Rory said with a nod. “So, these cubes are really alien?”

River nodded. “I don’t know much about them, not enough to offer any real solutions, but I know a few things. We’re in for a long wait till we find out what they can do. Months away, at the very least.”

“The public at large will not be pleased to hear that,” Mycroft murmured.

“Neither will Greg. He was hoping he’d have answers fast,” John said.

“People will get used to them,” River said, crossing her arms. “Soon enough they will be incorporated into our everyday lives. But it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t study and observe them anyway.”

“Very true,” Mycroft said. “I suppose UNIT will be doing much of that.”

“Probably,” River said. “My memories of these few months are a bit fuzzy, only because all of you made it a point to talk about them when I wasn’t around. I just know something happens here at the hospital that is the key to unlocking the mystery, but it doesn’t happen for a while.”

“I suppose we wait, then,” Rory said. “Right?”

“Yes,” Sherlock said. “We wait.”

\--

“I want to observe them,” the Doctor said as he paced around the sitting room at 221B Baker Street. Martha and Mickey had been called back into work, and while Kate Stewart wanted his help, he hadn’t been allowed access yet. He was told it might also take some time for Lorna and Amy to get the necessary clearance. Elizabeth had it already, being Mycroft’s assistant, so she had gone off with Martha and Mickey. “Amelia, is there room for me here?” he asked.

Amy nodded. “Mrs. Hudson’s given up renting out the other rooms. I pay extra rent to make sure it’s just her and us. John’s old room is still available, if you want to stay there. I believe he left his bed and dresser and such.”

“That would be ideal.” He stopped pacing a moment. “Did River say anything important when you talked to her?”

“Just that today is the day she tells Rory and Molly about you,” she said as he began pacing again. “And that it’s going to be a while until we find out what these cubes can do.”

“Waiting. I _hate_ waiting,” the Doctor said as he made a slight face. “I can wait, but it’s all very tedious when time goes the way it’s supposed to. I’d much rather skip around.”

“You’re going to go stir crazy, I bet,” Lorna said with a smile from the sofa. Amy sat next to her, and the two of them were watching Melody walk around the room as the Doctor paced to their left. All the cubes that had been within Melody’s reach had been picked up and placed in a basket on the kitchen counter at Amy’s insistence. “You do not seem to be a patient man.”

“I can be patient,” the Doctor said with a slight glare. “I just don’t like to be.”

“Maybe John can give him some lessons,” Amy said with a smile to Lorna. “Considering how long he has put up with Sherlock as a partner, and how long he waited for you to admit you fancied him, he’s must have the patience of a saint.”

Lorna chuckled slightly. “I really should have told him from the start, shouldn’t I?”

“I would have. You’d probably be married now, or at least engaged.”

“Did River drop any hints?” Lorna asked, tilting her head slightly.

“Not really, just that you’re around for a long while. Trust me, she loves the word spoilers. You’ll hear that more than you’ll hear tidbits about your future.”

“That is my _least_ favorite word,” the Doctor grumbled. “I wish she would say something else every once in a while.”

“Then you’d just hate that word, too,” Amy pointed out.

The Doctor looked at her and then sighed. “True.” He started pacing again. “As soon as the two of you get clearance from UNIT, we can find out what they know. I want to know what they know so I can formulate ideas and theories.”

“He’s been taking lessons from Sherlock, hasn’t he?” Lorna asked Amy.

Amy laughed slightly. “I don’t know. I think he’s always been like this. Martha said he did it a lot one regeneration back, when he was supposedly the most brilliant man in the galaxy.”

“Martha actually said that?” the Doctor said, stopping again.

“Maybe not those exact words, but the sentiment was the same,” Amy said with a nod.

“I’m quite touched,” he said with a smile. “I knew she fancied me, but I never realized she thought I was brilliant.”

“Mickey, Sherlock and John do too,” Amy said.

“As do I,” Lorna said.

“What about you, Amy?” he asked.

“I think you’re maddening and smart and sometimes a little insufferable, but I also think Sherlock’s smarter than you in a lot of ways. He just happens to be _more_ maddening and insufferable at times.”

“I think you’re biased.”

“I probably am,” she said with a nod. “But he’s gotten better, and from what Martha, Lorna and Elizabeth and I have talked about, you’ve gotten better as well.”

“I’m glad to hear that,” he said with a nod. “River would probably disagree with all of you, though.”

“But she’s your wife,” Lorna said. “That’s to be expected.”

“Are all wives like you, Amy?” the Doctor asked.

“Well, maybe not all of them. But River will probably be more like me because I’m her mum. Why?” Amy asked.

“I just worry that we’ll fight like you and Sherlock. I don’t really want her angry at me.”

Amy frowned, then sighed. “He told you about Rory and Molly’s wedding, didn’t he?” The Doctor nodded. “He doesn’t see why I can be friends with Rory after everything. But I am. Neither of us had hard feelings over the failed engagement because we both ended up with the right people in the end. Molly’s perfect for him, much better than I would have been. But Sherlock’s _always_ disliked Rory and Mels. He can’t see Rory’s changed even after all these years. We all grew up.” She was quiet for a moment. “Well, Rory and I more than Mels. But Rory especially. We’ve all changed since we were children, mostly for the better.”

“Why does Sherlock dislike Rory so much? He didn’t seem so bad when I met him while we were dealing with Prisoner Zero.”

“There was an incident when I was young, about a week before Sherlock left Leadworth for London. He was working on a case, and Rory implied he was stupid for thinking the boy was murdered. That was the angriest I had ever seen Sherlock in the whole time I had known him. I mean, I had never seen him like that even when his brother was being a massive git. I think that ever since that day he’s actually despised Rory, and nothing has changed his mind about it.”

“I see,” the Doctor said, surprised. “I didn’t realize that.”

Amy shrugged slightly. “I think Sherlock knew I would probably end up with Rory, and he never liked that, even if he didn’t fancy me himself. He thought I deserved better.” She smiled a bit. “And then I did get someone better. I got him. When Sherlock finally looked at me the same way I’d been looking at him for most of my life, that was the best moment of my life. At least until I actually got to bring Melody home, I suppose. I think if I had actually married Rory we’d both have been miserable, and probably divorced by now. I’m happy with Sherlock, and Rory and Molly are perfect for each other.”

“He’s jealous,” the Doctor said. “He should probably have told you that, but…”

“Why? I never loved Rory, not the way I’ve loved Sherlock,” Amy said, frowning slightly.

“He’s jealous all the same,” the Doctor said. “I really shouldn’t be meddling, should I?”

“Probably not, but it’s good that I know,” Amy said. “At least now I know where he’s coming from. We’ll be able to work it out now.”

The Doctor went over to Amy and knelt in front of her, cradling her face in his hands. “Just promise me you two won’t have any huge fights while I’m here, all right, Pond?”

“It’s Holmes now, and I can’t make that promise. We can try, though.”

“I’ll take it,” he said, letting go of her face and kissing her forehead before standing up. 

“Doctor, if it helps, River told me we’re together for a very long time,” Amy said with a smile. “We die days apart when we’re very old.”

“That’s good to know,” he said with a nod and an answering grin. “Now we just need to get through this whole messy business with the cubes.”

“I still think you’re going to go stir-crazy if you have to sit in one place for a long while,” Lorna said. “You like to move around. You have the energy level of a hyperactive four-year-old.”

“She has a point,” Amy said. “It’s probably going to get very boring. How are you going to amuse yourself?”

“I have my ways,” the Doctor said evasively.

“Don’t start running mad science experiments like my husband,” Amy said, shaking her head. “There’s a very young version of your wife running around underfoot.”

“I wouldn’t do that,” he said. He went over to Melody and picked her up, and the young child smiled at him. He smiled back. “I would never endanger Melody. River and I do enough dangerous things when she’s older to turn your hair gray.”

“Don’t give me details,” Amy said, holding up a hand. “I like being a ginger, thank you very much.”

The Doctor chuckled. “What you know about those adventures is entirely up to your daughter.” He kissed Melody’s forehead gently. “It’s not my place to tell them.”

“Good.” Amy held her arms up for Melody and the Doctor handed her over. “How long do you think it will take for us to get clearance?”

“Probably not very long for you. Longer for Lorna because by now they’ve probably realized all her documentation is fake,” the Doctor said with a slight shrug. “Which means more people will need to know the truth about her.”

Lorna sighed. “I was afraid of that.”

“If Mycroft intervenes you should be fine, though. Elizabeth knew, right?” Lorna nodded. “Then Mycroft probably already knew. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s taken steps to make sure you can get clearance.”

“I hope so. The sooner I know what the cubes are, the better I’ll feel,” Lorna said. “I just hope it’s not related to the Silence and _her_.” She shuddered slightly. “I still don’t like thinking about all of that.”

“At least you just have memories,” Amy said quietly. “I have a nightmare at least once a week where I’m trapped in that cylinder, or on Demon’s Run by myself with no way home.”

Lorna reached over and grasped Amy’s hand. “I’m sorry I had any part in all that.”

“I know,” Amy said with a smile. “But you were only there to see the Doctor again. If I were you I would have done the same thing. But it all ended well: you got to travel the stars with him, and now you have a good life with a man who loves you very much, and you have good friends as well.”

“Yes, I do,” Lorna said with a smile of her own. “I’m very lucky. For all we knew things could have gone horribly wrong and I could be dead.”

“Yes, it all turned out very well,” the Doctor said with a slight smile of his own. “And maybe one day soon I’ll get back to unraveling that particular mystery.”

“Hit more dead walls?” Amy asked.

He nodded. “With Jack married off to Irene and not helping, it seems as though my leads are going nowhere. I’d ask him to take some time to help me, but he won’t leave his children, and she won’t step foot on the TARDIS.”

Amy got a distinctly cold look in her eyes. “I still don’t like her.”

“I know. But Jack is a good influence, and she has changed, if it’s any consolation. Just ask Elizabeth.” He was about to say something else when Amy’s cell phone rang. “If I were you I would answer that.”

Amy reached over to the table and looked at it. “It’s Martha.”

“Maybe your clearance has arrived after all,” the Doctor said with a grin.

“I’m hoping,” Amy said as she answered it. “Yes, Martha?”

“Everyone has been cleared. Kate would like to meet you all now,” she replied. “Someone is coming to get you shortly. Sherlock, John and Mycroft will meet us here.”

“I’ll let everyone know,” Amy said. “See you soon.” She hung up and looked at the Doctor. “Someone will be coming for us shortly.”

“Excellent!” the Doctor said with a grin. “That’s good news. Now we can really get cracking on things.” He looked at Melody. “What are we going to do about her?”

“Mrs. Hudson has promised to watch her. The boxes have her spooked, but I promised Sherlock was on it and that calmed her down.” She stood up, balancing Melody on her hip. “I’ll go let her know we’ll be leaving soon, and see if you can stay for a while. I’ll be right back.” And with that she left.

The Doctor looked at Lorna. “This is rather exciting, isn’t it?” he said with a wide grin.

“It would be more exciting if I knew what the boxes were. I don’t like them. I think they’re going to be trouble,” she said with a frown.

“We’ll figure it out,” he replied, sitting down next to her. “Don’t worry. I’ll protect everyone.” He reached over and grasped her hand in his. “I promise.”

“I’m holding you to that promise,” she said with a smile.

“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” he responded. “Now let’s wait for Amy and our ride. I think we’re going to get a lot done today.”

“I hope so,” Lorna said with a slight nod.

A few moments later Amy came back without Melody, and then ten minutes after that there was a knock at the door. The three of them went to the door where Martha was standing there with a woman behind her. Martha grinned at them. “I said I could come get you on my own, but she wanted to meet you, Doctor,” Martha said.

“You look very different from what my father described. I was expecting spiky hair, a nice suit, glasses and high top shoes,” the woman said with a smile.

“He never got to see this regeneration,” the Doctor said with a grin of his own, though it was slightly tinged with sadness. “You must be Kate Stewart.”

Kate nodded. “One and the same.” She looked over at Amy and Lorna. “I recognize you from all your modeling, Mrs. Holmes, so that must mean you’re Miss Bucket,” Kate said, extending a hand to Lorna.

“Nice to meet you,” Lorna said as she shook her hand. “And please, call me Lorna.”

“And go ahead and call me Amy,” Amy said as Kate extended her hand towards her. “Mrs. Holmes is very formal.”

“Very well,” Kate said with a nod.

“Why did you drop Lethbridge?” the Doctor asked as Kate and Amy shook hands.

“I wanted to make it on my own merits,” she said with just the slightest shrug when she let go of Amy’s hand. “My father’s legacy was a lot to live up to. If I was going to be my own person it meant not living in his shadow.”

“Understandable,” the Doctor said with a nod. “You’ve been doing well, I take it?”

“I’ve had to strong-arm UNIT into changing with the times. Not all of the military men liked the idea of science being an integral part of our operations,” she said with a slight chuckle. “But no one’s complained too loudly or too often, so I suppose they’re coming around.”

“I believe I would like to see this more science-oriented UNIT,” he replied.

“Well, you and your companions are welcome to help us figure this all out. I understand Sherlock Holmes is a friend of yours, so that’s a good start,” Kate said with a smile. “If he weren’t so obsessed with helping D.I. Lestrade at Scotland Yard we’d have poached him years ago.”

“I never knew that,” Amy said, surprised.

Kate nodded. “His brother doesn’t help much, much to my chagrin. I’ve had extensive dealings with Mycroft Holmes, and at least once a month the topic of his brother comes up. Each time Mycroft says to let him be.” Then she paused and turned to Amy. “I don’t suppose I can count on his wife to help convince him to switch teams?” Kate asked.

Amy chuckled slightly. “No. For once I’m going to have to agree with my brother-in-law on something. I don’t think he’d do well if he wasn’t solving murders. That’s one of his passions in life.”

“Pity,” she murmured. “Martha and Mickey said much the same thing, but I had to try.”

“I don’t think he’d mind the occasional consultation, though,” Amy said after thinking a moment. “As long as Scotland Yard comes first.”

“I could live with that,” Kate said with a nod. “I’ll have to ask the man in question when I finally get to meet him.” She looked at everyone. “So. Ready to see what we know and provide your own insights?” Everyone nodded. “Then let’s get going.”

\--

By the time the Doctor and his friends got to UNIT’s headquarters, Sherlock, John and Mycroft were already there, along with River. Introductions were made quickly and then Kate led them to the laboratories. “There isn’t much we know about them. Collecting them all would take resources we don’t have, so all we’ve been able to do is collect a small quantity here in London with the hopes of getting more. Right now we have a scared populace on our side, so people have been dropping them off at places they think are safe and we’ve been collecting them. We currently have seven hundred and thirty-four cubes.”

“That’s a lot of cubes,” John said with a slight whistle.

“There are thousands in London alone,” Kate said. “We only have a small portion. We’re going to run every test imaginable. We’re going to subject them to everything we can in hopes of learning about them. You’re all more than welcome to observe some of those tests.”

“We ran a few at the hospital,” Sherlock said. “Basic tests: x-ray, scans, things like that.”

Kate nodded. “So have we. It will be interesting to compare your results to ours.”

“Do you think we’ll get answers soon?” Elizabeth asked. She opened her mouth to say more but Mycroft’s phone rang. She glanced at him, but he shook his head and moved to the side to take his call, and Elizabeth turned her attention back to Kate to hear her answer.

Kate shook her head. “Not soon enough to appease the local population, but hopefully we’ll know more by the end of the week.”

“I would like to sit in on some of the tests UNIT will be running,” Sherlock said.

“As would I,” the Doctor replied. “Are they under constant observation?”

Kate nodded. “We have surveillance cameras on them. If they do anything, we’ll know.” She looked at the others. “Would any of the rest of you like to join us?”

John, Amy and Lorna raised their hands. River shook her head, and then moved over more towards Mycroft. “I don’t think I can offer much insight right now. I’d like to observe them more on my own.”

“I can take Mrs. Song back to St. Bart’s,” Mycroft said as he hung up. “As it stands, I have received a call from my bosses. My presence is required elsewhere.”

“We’ll keep you in the loop, Mycroft,” Kate said.

“Thank you, Kate,” he said with a nod. With that, River, Elizabeth and Mycroft turned and left. 

The others continued down a hallway, Kate and Sherlock talking quietly. The Doctor and the others stayed a bit behind. “It doesn’t seem they know much more than us,” John said quietly.

“Give them time. I’m sure by the end of the week they’ll know something,” the Doctor said.

“River said it will all take a while,” John replied.

The Doctor frowned. “How long?”

“She didn’t know. A while by her calculations, whatever that is. She said something about camping out in Sherlock’s favorite lab and observing the cubes on her own.”

“I’m sure her father wasn’t happy with that idea,” Lorna said with a slight smile.

“Actually, he encouraged the idea. Mickey came and got us and brought her along too. Personally, I think she’s staying at St. Bart’s to observe the hospital. She said that something is supposed to happen there, she just doesn’t know when.”

“We’ll keep that between us for now,” the Doctor said to those around him. “If it becomes something UNIT should know, we’ll inform them.”

“All right,” Amy said, and John and Lorna nodded. They caught up with Sherlock and Kate a few moments later as the two of them had paused by an observation window. The Doctor and the others turned their attention to what was going on inside. “What are you doing there?” Amy asked.

“Bombarding a cube with gamma radiation,” Kate replied. “We have tests going on in each of these rooms, but so far there have been no changes in the cubes.”

“Are they all the same?” Amy asked, turning to Kate.

“So far we’ve detected no variations in the cubes,” she said. “Nothing to differentiate one from another.”

“Fascinating,” Sherlock murmured. “All seven hundred cubes are the same?”

Kate nodded. “And it seems as though that holds true all over the world. The other countries who have shared their results are discovering the same thing.”

“Hmm,” Sherlock said, watching the experiment.

“Are there any experiments you would suggest?” Kate asked him.

“Possibly. It depends on what experiments you have run and what experiments you are planning on running,” he replied, not looking away. “Perhaps we could speak more at length.”

“Very well,” she replied.

“I’m kind of bored,” Amy said to the Doctor quietly.

“Science really isn’t your thing, is it?” he said.

“No, not really,” she replied. “Think it’s too late to leave? This is all up Sherlock’s alley, not mine.”

“I’ll go with you,” Lorna replied. “Where were you planning on going?”

“Home with Melody. I want to gather up every one of those cubes and send them here.”

“You know Sherlock will probably bring some home,” the Doctor said with an amused smile.

Amy sighed. “I hadn’t thought of that. At the very least I can keep them away from Melody. He can’t object to that.”

“I’ll accompany you. I want to speak to my wife anyway,” the Doctor said. “John, do you want to come with us?”

John shook his head. “I’ll stay here. This is rather fascinating.”

“All right,” the Doctor said with a nod. Then he moved over to Kate, who was speaking quietly with Sherlock. “Sorry to interrupt, Kate, but Amy, Lorna and I are going to return home. Not having any answers is making Amy nervous, and she’d like to get back home to her daughter.”

“Understandable,” Kate said with a nod. “You all have clearance so you can come back if you want to.”

“I’ll be back later, most likely. I just need to talk to someone first.” The Doctor grinned at her. “Have fun, you two.”

“We will,” Sherlock said quietly, nodding at him. The Doctor, Amy and Lorna left at that point. Sherlock watched them leave, then turned back to the experiment. “I don't think you will have answers by the end of the week,” he said quietly to Kate as John got closer. “I get the feeling there will be no answers for quite some time.”

“I’m hoping you’re wrong,” Kate said.

Sherlock thought for a moment about what to say without revealing what his daughter had told him. “I’m hoping I am too, but it’s a nagging thought that won’t leave. Whoever or whatever sent these has an agenda. It might be some time before we know what it is. I think it wants us to get comfortable with these cubes.”

“If that’s the case, then we’ll be needing your help for quite some time,” she replied.

“I’m happy to oblige,” he replied, leaning in closer to the observation window for a moment. Then he pulled away and looked at her. “May I observe some of the other experiments?”

“Very well,” she said with a nod. “Follow me.” As he followed her further down the hallway, Sherlock mused that day one of the invasion was going to be characterized by confusion from the masses and unanswered questions. He had to prepare himself for a wait. He just hoped the others would be able to prepare themselves as well.

\--

Sherlock arrived home many hours after Amy and the Doctor, at close to ten in the evening. He took off his scarf and put it on the coatrack, listening to Amy and the Doctor talk in the other room. From the snippets of conversation he overheard, the Doctor was planning on staying with them for the time being. He went into the sitting room and saw them sitting there. The Doctor spotted him first. “Hello, Sherlock,” he said, balancing Melody on his lap. “Find out anything interesting?”

Sherlock shook his head. “Not much. There are still more tests to be run, but it appears it will be quite some time until we have answers.” He looked towards the kitchen. “Have you made dinner, Amelia?”

She nodded. “I made a plate for you. It’s in the microwave.”

“Thank you.” He went over to Amy and kissed the top of her head, and she reached over for his hand and squeezed it. “You’re too good to me,” he said quietly.

“No I’m not,” she said, looking up at him and getting a smile in return from him. “We should talk later tonight.”

“All right,” he said with a nod as she let go of his hand. He went to the microwave and reheated his food, then brought it to the table. “Did you get to see River yet?”

“Yes,” Amy said. “She says Molly is taking things better than she’d thought she would. Rory already kind of knew, so he’s helping.”

“That’s good,” he said before taking a bite of his dinner. “I couldn’t help but overhear your conversation. You’ll be staying with us a while, Doctor?”

The Doctor nodded. “I thought that might be best. I may jump around a bit, see if I can figure things out. I want to be around while these cubes are here, but I also want to see if others have heard of them. I know River is observing them so that might be the only reason I leave for periods of time.”

“Speaking of our daughter, she’s asked us to dinner tomorrow night,” Amy said to Sherlock. “The Doctor said he’d watch Melody for us.”

“Thank you,” Sherlock replied.

“I don’t like these cubes,” Amy said quietly. “The sooner the mystery is solved, the better.”

“I don’t like not having answers either,” Sherlock said. “But according to River, we have to wait. And apparently the key to ending all of this will be found at St. Bart’s.”

“Then I guess you need to stay close to Molly,” she replied.

“Rory as well,” he said, and she looked at him, raising an eyebrow. “I believe I can tolerate him, if needed.”

“That’s good,” she said with a smile. “Well, I think it’s about time to put Melody to bed, and then I’m off to get some sleep.” She got up from her chair and gave the Doctor a hug, which he returned, and then she took Melody off his lap. “Say good-night to your father, Melody.”

“Dada,” she said with a smile as Amy brought her over to Sherlock.

She reached over for him, and Sherlock paused in his eating and took her from her mother. “Good night, Melody.” He kissed the top of her head, and then Amy picked her back up and took her to her room. Sherlock watched her leave before turning back to the Doctor. “Are you going to be able to stay here without expiring from boredom?”

“I believe so, yes,” he said with a nod. “Your wife has offered to buy me a Wii and an Xbox.”

Sherlock smiled slightly and shook his head. “She’s just been looking for an excuse to get them. Lorna got one of each and they’ve been spending time on them competing against each other.”

The Doctor chuckled. “It’s going to be strange, doing things the way they’re supposed to be done in the correct order.”

“I can imagine,” Sherlock said before going back to his food. “But you’ll survive, at any rate.”

“I hope so,” the Doctor said, the smile on his face dimming a bit. “There’s still so much we don’t know about these cubes.”

“I know,” Sherlock said.

The Doctor stood up. “I think it’s time for me to retire to my room and speak with my wife for a bit.” He went over to Sherlock and clapped him on the shoulder. “Good night, Sherlock.”

“Good night.” Sherlock turned back to his food as the Doctor left the room, and when he was finished he took his plate and utensils into the kitchen. He rinsed them off and set them in the sink, then went to his own room. Amy was not back from putting Melody to sleep, so he quickly changed and got ready for bed. He had just pulled back the covers when she came into the room, carrying Melody’s plastic bucket, which was now full of cubes. “Didn’t want them in her room?”

“Absolutely not,” she said, setting the bucket down by the door. “I’d be happy if we didn’t have a single one of them in the house.”

“You know the Doctor and I want to observe them,” he said with a frown as he got into their bed, leaving the covers off for a moment.

She sighed. “I know. Just keep them away from the bedrooms, at least.” She began to change. “Thank you for being nice to Rory. River said you two got along decently today.”

“Apparently he becomes a close friend of the family,” he said as he sat up slightly. “I suppose I have to accept that.”

“He’s changed a lot over the years,” she said. 

“I started to see that today.” He watched her change. “I was jealous of him.”

“I know,” she said with a nod.

“How?”

“The Doctor,” she said with a slight smile. She paused in the middle of changing and walked over to him. “You don’t need to be. I will never love him the way I love you. He’s an old friend and a former boyfriend. Nothing more.” She leaned over Sherlock slightly and kissed him. He reached up and tangled one hand in her hair, and then used the other one to pull her down on the bed. She pulled away from the kiss, chuckling slightly. “I’m in my knickers and bra,” she said.

“Indeed. And I think I’m overdressed,” he replied, running one hand up and down her waist.

“We have company.”

“He’s in another room,” he murmured.

“If you’re sure,” she said, leaning in and kissing him again, a smile on her lips. He held her close before reaching up for the clasp of her bra. He just wanted to spend the evening with his wife, be close to her, and forget all about the day. If he could do that, the whirring thoughts would settle, at least for a few hours.


	2. Chapter 2

**Day 33**

“Doctor!” Amy called out, balancing Melody on her hip. She saw one of the cubes that the Doctor and her husband were using for an experiment and she rolled her eyes. “Doctor, everyone is coming over for Melody’s birthday today and you and Sherlock have cubes all over the counter and the floor. I want them _gone_!”

“Why can’t your husband move them?” the Doctor called out from the hallway before coming into the living room.

“Because he’s still at UNIT headquarters. Kate told him there still hasn’t been a change but he goes in every day at noon to see for himself. You should know that by now,” she replied, rolling her eyes. Then she looked at him closely and the guilty expression he had and narrowed her eyes. “Did you break the Wii again?”

“No,” he said, wringing his hands slightly. “Just the controller.”

“I swear, the amount of money I’ve poured into that machine, and I don’t even get to play it,” she said with a slightly exasperated sigh. “Move the cubes on the floor so I can set Melody down.”

“Fine, fine,” the Doctor replied. He went and started to pick up the cubes. “They’re only there because we ran out of room in the kitchen.”

“And where are they exactly?” she asked, setting Melody down once he got a space cleared.

“In your cupboards.”

“Please tell me you didn’t throw out the food to make room for them,” she said with a groan.

“ _I_ didn’t. Your husband might have, though,” the Doctor said, his arms full of cubes.

“I’m going to kill you both,” she murmured.

“No you won’t,” the Doctor said, dumping the cubes into a basket and running over to Amy before leaning in to kiss her cheek. “You love us both too much for that.”

“Yes, well, I’m on the verge of suggesting that you both move in with John and Lorna for a bit,” she grumbled.

“You and Sherlock aren’t having problems, are you?” he asked with a frown.

“No, other than the fact that he’s obsessed with finding out what these cubes do,” she said. “He’s been ignoring his family. Today is Melody’s birthday, after all. And I feel…left out, I suppose. The both of you are so interested in them and I’m not.”

“It’s a mystery. You know how he is with a mystery, even an unsolvable one.”

“Yes, I know, I know,” she said with a sigh. “But he should be here helping me, not off observing those things.”

“When does the party start?” the Doctor asked, walking into the kitchen and beginning to collect the cubes in there.

“In three hours. I still have to go pick up the cake and finish wrapping the presents,” she said. “Sherlock was supposed to do that but River called him with some news about the cubes yesterday so he rushed over to her, and they talked late into the night.”

“At least he’s getting some bonding time in with his daughter,” the Doctor pointed out.

“I wish she could spend time with me, but she’s as hell-bent on figuring out what these cubes do as the two of you are. My whole family is ignoring me and I hate it.”

“Tonight you and Sherlock should go out. On a date. I’ll even babysit!” the Doctor said, picking up another cube and adding it to the stack in his arms.

Amy raised an eyebrow. “You’ll watch Melody? Even though she’s walking now?”

“Yes. Your daughter adores me. Well, I mean, we know River adores me. But Melody does too.” He carried the cubes over to another basket and then picked Melody up. “Don’t you, Melody?” Melody smiled at him and reached up to pull his bowtie. “No, no, don’t grab the bow tie. We’ve talked about this.”

Amy smiled despite her foul mood. “I still find it amusing that she remembers all these things we do. I think she goes after your bow tie out of a need to assert her dominance in your relationship, even now.”

“No, she does it because she knows she’ll have me wrapped around her finger as an adult,” he said with a smile. “Go get the cake. I’ll stay here with her.”

“Are you sure?” Amy said.

The Doctor was about to reply when he heard the front door open. “Well, perhaps you should wait moment to see who came in.” He nodded to the doorway, and after a few moments Sherlock came in, carrying the aforementioned cake in his arms. “I think you just scored yourself some points, Sherlock,” he said with a grin.

“Points?” Sherlock asked, slightly confused.

“He means brownie points,” Amy said with a grin. She went over to her husband and kissed his cheek before taking the cake from him.

“Ah, I see,” Sherlock said with a slight nod as Amy took a step away from him. “Why would I need brownie points, though?”

“Because your wife has been feeling neglected,” the Doctor said. “Her entire family seems to be wholly focused on these cubes.”

“Yup. My husband, the grown version of my daughter and my son-in-law,” Amy said as she walked into the kitchen. “I know the cubes are a mystery, and I know how my entire family is fascinated with mysteries, but I’m tired of being ignored.”

“I’m babysitting your daughter so the two of you can go out tonight,” the Doctor added.

Sherlock raised an eyebrow slightly. “Are you sure you can handle her?”

“Of course I can! She’s only a year old. What can she do that I can’t handle?”

“She’s a one-year-old _Time Lady_ ,” Sherlock said. “Do you remember what you were like at a year old?”

The Doctor paused, and then frowned. “She’s been showing signs of advanced maturation, hasn’t she?”

“She can run, Doctor, and I’m pretty sure she can talk as well but she doesn’t say anything around us,” Amy said as she set the cake down on the counter. “At the very least she can understand everything we tell her.”

“Can you talk, Melody?” the Doctor asked her. Melody nodded slowly. “You just don’t for fear of alienating yourself, right?” Melody nodded again. “Then you’re a smart little girl. How many words do you know?”

“If you can speak you might as well talk to the three of us,” Sherlock said as he came up to his daughter. “You’ll be safest with us.”

“Many…words,” she said haltingly.

“So even though you can talk, it’s also hard?” Amy asked, turning to look at her daughter. Melody nodded. “Then we won’t make you say anything more than you’ve said already.”

“Mum,” she said, reaching for her mother.

“I like that word,” Amy said with a smile, going over to the Doctor and taking her daughter from his arms. Melody smiled at her mother and rested her head on Amy’s shoulder. 

“I’m glad to know you trust us,” Sherlock said, a slight grin on his.

“Dada,” she said with a smile as she faced him.

“I like that word just as much as Mum,” Amy said with a slight chuckle. “Sherlock, you’ll have to wrap the presents. I need to make the food for our guests.”

“Very well,” he said with a sigh.

“I’ll help,” the Doctor replied. “Then you can tell me about what happened at UNIT today.”

Sherlock nodded. “All right. Follow me.” Sherlock went to his and Amy’s bedroom and the Doctor followed. When they got inside Sherlock went to his closet and pulled out a cardboard box before setting it down on the bed. “Because Melody is special we did not get her many typical gifts.”

The Doctor looked inside the box. “I can see that,” he said with a nod.

“Since we’re on the topic, we still don’t know how to raise a Time Lady,” he said. “Perhaps you can sit down and tell us what to expect.” He began pulling presents out of the box, leaving the already wrapped ones inside.

“Not much more than you have already witnessed. She will do things much faster than a normal child, and she will remember everything that happens to her. She’ll also know anything that could happen. In all honesty, the more you treat her like a normal child the better off you’ll all be. As you saw, she knows she is different, and she is very good at hiding it. But growing up will be very lonely for her.”

“I understand what it is like to have a lonely childhood,” he said quietly. “So does Amelia.”

“Then that will make you very good parents for such a special girl,” the Doctor said with a smile. “I know quite a bit about Amy’s childhood, because she’s told me stories, but I don’t know much about yours.”

“You want me to share anecdotes from a childhood that I would rather forget?” Sherlock asked, stopping what he was doing and looking at his son-in-law.

“Only if you want to,” he replied. “You don’t have to if you aren’t comfortable with that.”

“My father was quite a bit like me. Very interested in science and his experiments. When I began to show signs that I might want to follow in his footsteps I thought we might become closer,” he said quietly. “But even at a young age, I knew that I was smarter than him. Soon the time we spent together was spent arguing, and then he began to argue with my mother. When I was ten he walked out on us.”

“I’m sorry,” the Doctor replied.

“Mycroft and I never really got along. Then, when I was eleven, he began to babysit Amelia. Not because he needed to; even after my father left he made sure we were taken care of financially at the time. Mycroft babysat our mother and her aunt were still friends. That was before you entered her life, obviously. She was a fanciful child, which annoyed both Mycroft and I to no end. We were more logical, analytical. But she grew on me. Then you crash-landed on her shed and she began proclaiming that you existed to everyone she met. Her aunt and my mother became estranged. By that point my father had run through his money and was no longer supporting Mycroft or I. Any money Mycroft got from Amy’s Aunt Sharon was used for the household.”

“And when you began to babysit her?”

“That money was also used for the household, though it was just my mother and I after Mycroft went to London. I never saw a dime of it, other than the food and clothing I was given. Amelia must have figured it out, though. She would always ask her aunt for spending money and she would give me some, or buy something she knew I wanted. Amelia took better care of me than my own mother.”

“That’s part of the reason why you care for her so much, isn’t it?” the Doctor asked quietly.

Sherlock nodded. “Partially. She was also the only one who believed in me. I would have stayed in Leadworth much longer if she hadn’t convinced me to leave. She told me there were better things waiting for me.” Then he smiled slightly. “But she was wrong, in a way. She is the best thing that has ever happened to me. If I had stayed in Leadworth, perhaps I would have realized it earlier.”

“It wouldn’t have been the same, though,” the Doctor pointed out. “You needed to live the lives you lead before you met each other again.”

“That’s true, I suppose,” he said. “I think if I had stayed I would be a different man entirely.”

“So just remember that life needed to happen exactly as it did for the two of you to have the relationship you have now,” the Doctor said with a smile. “Now, we have presents to wrap!” He wiggled his fingers a bit. “Where is the paper?”

“In the closet,” Sherlock said, turning back to box to pull out the gifts.

The Doctor went to the closet and reached for the paper. He bumped a small box, which fell over. Several items fell out of it, and he paused in what he was doing to pick it all up. “What’s this?” he asked, kneeling down to look closer.

Sherlock moved away from the box of presents and looked. “Those are Amelia’s. They’re all the things she designed of you when she was young.”

The Doctor picked up the little doll. “I am still so sorry it took so long for me to get back to her,” he said quietly. “I left her very damaged, didn’t I?”

“I don’t think it went quite as badly as you think,” Sherlock replied. “She was not without friends, and she had a semblance of a normal childhood.

“There is that,” the Doctor conceded. “But I damage so many of the people who travel with me.”

“Martha and Mickey seem no worse for wear, and you traveled with them before you ever met Amelia,” he pointed out. “The same with Jack.”

“If it hadn’t been for me Jack never would have joined Torchwood. He never would have lost his friends,” the Doctor said sadly. “I pushed Martha away, and belittled Mickey. I’m honestly surprised any of them are still willing to talk to me.”

“That may be true, but look at all the others--at myself and Amelia, at John and Lorna. You haven’t damaged us yet.”

“But what if I do? What if things go wrong as they did in the alternate universe?”

“You can’t dwell on it, just like I have learned not to dwell on the fact that my wife was taken from me and held in captivity, the fact that I came so close to losing my daughter before I ever got to know her,” Sherlock said. “If you dwell on those things it will drive you mad. You have so much more to live for.”

“One day all of you will be gone,” he said, clutching the doll tightly. “My friends will be gone and what will I have then other than memories? I have too many memories of people who are no longer here.”

Sherlock’s hand reached out and hovered over the man’s shoulder for a moment, then it grasped his shoulder tightly in a sign of comfort. “Eventually, all anyone has is memories. You just happen to live longer than the rest of us. One day, when we are all gone, you will have new companions, make new memories. Then they will be gone and you will do it all over again. That is your way, Doctor. It is the only thing you can do.”

“I suppose you’re right, Sherlock. It’s the curse of the Time Lords,” the Doctor said, looking up at him with a sad smile on his face. He put the pieces of art Amy had made back in the box, after really looking at each one. Then he stood up. “Let’s get back to the presents, shall we?”

“Of course,” Sherlock said with a nod. The two men returned to the presents, and after a moment’s search for a pair of scissors they began to wrap the presents. It took them nearly forty minutes, but when they were done they put all the presents back into the cardboard box. The Doctor picked it up and carried it out to the living room, where there was a delicious smell coming from the kitchen. Sherlock went into the kitchen and looked over Amy’s shoulder. She was using a knife to scrape vegetables from a cutting board into a stew. “That looks delicious.”

“Ack!” she said, jumping slightly and dropping the now empty cutting board. Her shoulder impacted with Sherlock’s jaw, and he pulled away, rubbing it slightly. She turned to face him, waving the knife. “Don’t scare me when I have a knife in my hand!”

“I’ll endeavor to remember that,” he said sourly.

“I’m sorry,” she said, setting down the knife. “I didn’t mean to snap.” She went over to him and put her arms around his neck. “Forgive me?”

“Forgiven,” he said with a slight smile.

She leaned in and kissed him, only pulling away when the Doctor made a slight gagging noise before turning to Melody and saying “Your parents are _kissing_.”

“Just remember it was kissing that led to your wife being conceived,” Amy pointed out with a chuckle as she pulled away. “Don’t you ever kiss River?”

“Well, I do, but she’s my _wife_ ,” the Doctor said, making a face.

“And Amelia is mine, so the same principle applies,” Sherlock said.

“I suppose you’re right,” the Doctor said with a sigh.

“And anyway, it’s not like Sherlock and I are a very touchy-feely couple,” Amy said, moving away from Sherlock to pick up the cutting board. “We don’t subject you to this all the time.”

“But he did choose to stay with us as opposed to Mickey and Martha, or John and Lorna,” Sherlock pointed out.

“True,” Amy said with a nod. “So get used to it happening occasionally, Doctor.”

“It’s your home so I suppose it’s your rules.” He looked around. “I’m going to try and fix the Wii controller now.”

“He broke another one?” Sherlock asked Amy.

She nodded. “Yup. No sonicing it, Doctor. You remember what happened the last time.”

“But I _liked_ that controller,” he said with a slight pout.

Amy chuckled. “There’s another controller in the cabinet under the telly. I bought five when I bought the new X-Box controllers.”

“Thank you,” the Doctor said with a wide smile before leaving the room.

“Do you ever get the feeling this is just preparation for our daughter and son becoming older?” Amy asked Sherlock.

“I’m viewing it like that,” he said with a nod.

“Good, then it’s not just me.” She grinned at him, and then her eyes widened and she froze. “We can’t go out on a date tonight.”

“Why not?” he asked.

“Because if it’s Melody’s birthday, then that means it’s River’s birthday as well. We should spend time with her, too,” Amy said.

“No, we’ll do that tomorrow,” Sherlock said. “She doesn’t want to leave the cubes she’s observing, and Molly and Rory are both working tonight. Rory offered to observe for a few hours tomorrow evening so we could take her out for dinner.”

Amy smiled at him. “You really do think of everything, don’t you?” she said, moving over to him and playing with the lapels of his coat. “That’s part of the reason why I love you so much.”

“I try,” he said with a widening smile.

“You know, I can fix the rest of the food later, if we can pry the Doctor away from the game to watch Melody,” Amy said suggestively.

“That is tempting,” Sherlock replied, licking his lips slightly. “But are you sure you want to do that with him in the house?”

Amy sighed and lowered her head slightly. “I suppose not.” She let go of his coat and sighed, taking a step back. “I will be so happy when the two of you solve this mystery and he leaves.”

“Perhaps we can ask him to babysit overnight and we can go someplace more private,” he said, reaching over for her hand to pull her back.

“Mr. Holmes, are you suggesting a tryst in a hotel room?” she said, a smile widening on her face.

He nodded. “I am, Mrs. Holmes.”

“I like that idea _very_ much,” she said. “Let me go ask him.” She gave him a quick kiss, or at least it was intended to be. He snaked his other hand around to touch her face, then tangled his fingers in her hair and kept her close. They only pulled apart when they needed to breathe. “Keep that up and I may just forget we have a houseguest,” she said a bit breathlessly.

“That was rather the point,” he said with a widening smile.

“Delayed gratification,” she said in response.

“Don’t use psychology on me.”

She leaned in towards his ear. “I can do _so much more_ when I have you in a hotel room all to myself tonight,” she whispered seductively.

“Really,” he murmured.

“Mmm-hmm,” she said. “I promise.”

“Then I will wait until tonight,” he said.

She pulled away and grinned at him. “I’ll be right back.” She turned and left the kitchen, going to the room that the Doctor was staying in. The door was closed, so she knocked. “Doctor? Do you mind watching Melody overnight tonight?”

“You’re going to go do _that_ , aren’t you?” the Doctor said, making a face as he opened the door.

She chuckled slightly. “If you must know, yes. We have been very respectful of the fact that you’re here, but it’s been over a month and I _really_ miss _that_.”

If it was at all possible the Doctor’s face looked even more puckered up. “Fine, fine, do it, I don’t want to hear about it.”

“You are such a prude,” she said, laughing wholeheartedly before leaning in and kissing his cheek. “I don’t know why River married you.”

“Because she loves other aspects of our relationship very much.”

“So you two haven’t…?” Amy asked, wiggling her fingers slightly.

“Well, yes. Obviously. She’s my wife. But I don’t _talk_ about it!” he sputtered. “I’m a gentleman.”

“Oh, Doctor,” Amy said fondly, pulling him in for a hug. He hugged her back after a moment. “Don’t ever change.”

“I won’t, as long as you promise the same.”

“I promise.” She pulled away and smiled at him. “I’ll let you get back to your game.” With that, she turned and began walking away.

“Are you _sure_ I can’t sonic the broken controller?” he called after her.

“Absolutely positive!” she called back, and then he shut the door, smile on his face.

He picked up the phone he had gotten for this time and place and dialed the familiar number. She picked up on the second ring. “Happy birthday, River,” he said before she spoke.

“Hello, sweetie,” River said. “And thank you. I thought you were busy with my first birthday party today?”

“Your parents are being particularly… _affectionate_ …today,” he said distastefully.

River chuckled. “They’re in love. It happens. And besides, aren’t you that way with me when we’re alone?” she said sweetly.

“Well, yes, but you’re my wife. They’re your parents! And I’m living with them.”

“I wish I could stay with them,” she said wistfully.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to say that.”

“No, love, it’s all right.” He imagined she had a smile on her face. “So, how are your mad experiments going?”

“No new results. It’s been a month and there’s nothing. Zilch. Nada. Zip.” He sighed and went back to the bed. “I miss you.”

“You could always come to the hospital and keep me company tonight, after the party,” she said.

“I can’t. I’m babysitting your younger self tonight so your parents can go out and…you know,” he said.

“Ah,” she replied. “Well, I’m having dinner with them tomorrow. Maybe you can join us, and John and Lorna can babysit ‘baby me’.”

“That sounds like a very good idea,” the Doctor replied with a smile. “Why didn’t I think of that?”

“Because you didn’t know I was having dinner with my parents?” she said, her chuckle a little heartier this time.

“Well, there is that,” he said, relaxing. “I wish I could see you tonight, though. It’s your birthday.”

“You will see me tonight. Just not _this_ me.”

“You know what I mean, River.”

“Yes, darling, I do. Maybe I can get someone else to observe tomorrow night and we can spend some quality time together.”

“Are you suggesting what I think you’re suggesting?” he asked.

“A shag? Yes, I am,” she said.

“ _Oh,_ ” he said quietly. “I see.”

This time she gave a full-bodied laugh instead of a chuckle. “Oh, love, I suspect you’re bright red right now. If you don’t want to, that’s fine. We could go out on an actual date instead. And I know you don’t need to sleep, but perhaps you could lay down next to me while I slept.”

“That would be nice,” he said, nodding emphatically even though he knew she couldn’t see him. “I would like that.”

“I’ll talk to my father then. I think if he spends a night with my mother she might be more inclined to let him stay late at St. Bart’s to observe my cube.”

“I know you don’t need much sleep, but are you getting any?” he asked, concerned.

“Enough, my love,” she replied. “I only need a few hours every day, and I usually sleep when Rory or Molly are here. They stay in the lab for a little while after their shift.”

“The hospital staff is going to start to suspect you’re not normal if you never leave,” he said with a frown.

“Dear, this is a hospital. An eighteen hour shift is not uncommon. I have a cot in here. Most of the staff just assumes that I sleep here because my apartment fell through. Or at least that’s the story Molly came up with. The other doctors leave me alone, mostly because she also said I’m studying under my father. No one likes to bother him if they can help it. They think I’m just as odd as he is.”

“Sometimes your father’s reputation can work in someone’s favor,” he said.

“Yes.” She paused. “I know I would much rather stay and chat, but someone is knocking at my door. I’ll see you tomorrow night, my love.”

“River?”

“Yes?”

“I love you,” he said, smile on his face.

“I love you as well. Good-bye for now.”

“Good-bye.” He hung up and looked at the broken Wii controller, then at the brand-new one. With a grin, he pulled out his sonic. Amy didn’t say he couldn’t sonic the _new_ controller. He pointed his sonic at it, and then, satisfied with what he had done, he pointed it at the Wii. The explosion in his hand was unexpected, as was the smoke emitting from the Wii. “Oh, Amy’s going to kill me,” he murmured.

“What the bloody hell was _that_?” Amy yelled from down the hall. “Did you sonic that controller after I told you not to?”

“Not the broken one,” he yelled back. The Wii was on fire, and he looked around his room for something to put it out with.

“There’s smoke!” Amy yelled, and a few moments later Sherlock opened the door quickly, fire extinguisher in hand. Amy was right behind him. The Doctor pointed to the smoking device and Sherlock began to spray the extinguisher on it. As he was doing that Amy rounded on the Doctor. “The last time the controller exploded. Now you broke the Wii,” she said, crossing her arms. “Oh, how I wish I could ground you right now…”

“I am so sorry,” he said. “I’ll replace it!”

“With what money?” Sherlock asked as soon as the fire was out.

“I have money,” the Doctor replied with a slight pout.

“No. If there’s going to be another Wii or X-Box or _anything_ in this house, it’s staying where I can keep an eye on it and make sure there’s no sonic-ing going on,” Amy said, uncrossing her arms and pinching the bridge of her nose. Then she turned to Sherlock, letting go of her nose. “I guess our plans are scrapped tonight. I don’t trust him here on his own.”

“No no no, you can trust me. I’ll even give you my sonic to take with you,” the Doctor said. “Here.” He thrust the sonic screwdriver at Amy. “Take it. I can go a night without it.”

Amy looked at it. “Are you sure?”

“Yes, I’m absolutely positive. I promise I will not maim, seriously harm or kill your daughter. She is my wife, after all.”

“Do you also promise not to burn the house down?” Sherlock asked, raising an eyebrow slightly.

“The house may even look better by the time you get back,” he said with an emphatic nod. “Please, go out and have a night to yourselves.”

“Fine,” Amy said with a sigh. “But no more electronic gaming consoles in your room, all right?”

“Fine. Absolutely fine,” he said with a grin. “You can trust me.” He went over to both of them, turned them around, and pushed them out the door. “I promise.”

He shooed them out of the room and shut the door behind them. Amy looked at Sherlock and shook her head. “This day is not going at all how I wanted it to,” she said with a sigh.

“Hopefully we will solve the mystery of the cubes and we can get our home back,” he said.

“Please make it sooner rather than later,” she said with a glance back at the closed door behind them. “I think I might kill him if he stays here much longer, and I love him so I don’t want to do that.”

“I understand. I feel much the same way.”

“I really do pray our children aren’t like this.”

“You and I both.” He looked over at her. “We’ll solve this mystery soon.”

“How do you know?” she asked as they made their way back to the common room and Melody.

“River’s keeping track of the days. For some reason no one in the future has talked much about the cubes, because there were never really answers, but they mentioned a big event happened roughly three months after the cubes arrived, though no one ever drew a correlation between the event and the cubes.”

“What happened?” she asked. Sherlock was quiet, and Amy stopped walking. “Sherlock, _what happened_?”

He looked at her. “Roughly a third of the world had heart attacks suddenly. Then almost as suddenly they restarted. There were no casualties that day, but there was a panic.”

“Why are we not telling UNIT about this?” Amy asked, her eyes wide.

“How would I explain to them that I know what’s going to happen in two months time? Do you really want to reveal Melody’s secret to the military?” he asked.

“No, I suppose not,” she said with a sigh. “Unless we say the Doctor told us. He _is_ a time traveler, after all.”

“There is that,” Sherlock conceded. 

“Does it happen to either of us?” Amy asked.

“Not as far as River knows, but I am not with her when it happens.”

“So it could happen to you,” Amy said, suddenly frightened.

“I doubt it will,” he said before framing her face in his hands. “And if it does, remember that there were no fatalities. Remember, River told you that we die when we are much older.”

“I know, but I worry,” she said quietly, gripping his wrists in her hands. “You’ve already been shot since we got together, and that’s not counting what happened outside the universe when that thing tried to kidnap the TARDIS, or the fact that that creep Moriarty had trained snipers pointing guns at you. I just worry that River is wrong and you’ll be taken away from me too soon.”

“Amelia,” he said quietly, running his thumbs across her cheeks gently. “I don’t think our daughter would be wrong about this. She wouldn't give you false hope. She is not that cruel.”

“But things could change,” Amy said, this time her voice barely above a whisper. “So much could go wrong and the world as we know it could change drastically.”

“I won’t let that happen.” Sherlock let go of Amy as the two of them turned to face the Doctor, who had come out of his room. “There is no way I will let either of you die before your time, I swear, Amelia,” the Doctor assured her.

“Can you really do that?” she asked as Sherlock put an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. She rested her head on his shoulder. “I mean, without tearing time and space apart as we know it?”

The Doctor nodded. “River has told me that your death is a fixed point in time, Amy. Nothing will change that.”

“So I die first?” Amy asked.

“We hadn’t wanted to tell you, but yes, you die first,” the Doctor replied. “But we shouldn’t talk about this. I’m going to tell UNIT what we know, say it came from me and not River. Tell them I jumped ahead in the TARDIS. This way there can be preparations. Maybe that’s why there will be no casualties that day.”

“I hadn’t thought of that,” Amy said. “If everyone knows, they can save people.”

The Doctor nodded. “I will go tell Kate today. You two go set up for the party. I promise I’ll be back in time.” Amy pulled away from Sherlock and the Doctor gave her a hug that she returned. “Don’t worry. I promise it will be okay.”

“All right,” Amy said as she pulled away.

“I need to talk to River and then jump ahead to the date it happens so I can arrive at the right time. I’ll be back before you know it.” He hugged her again for good measure, more quickly this time, and then walked past them and down the steps to the front door.

“We have a party to get ready for, and a daughter who we’re ignoring,” Sherlock said. “And I worry that he rubs off on our daughter too much.”

Amy smiled slightly. “Yes, there is all sorts of trouble she can get into,” she replied. She reached over for his hand and held it the rest of the way back to the common room, only letting go to pick Melody up.

She and Sherlock spent the next two hours getting ready before Lorna and John arrived to help. An hour after that the rest of the guests had arrived. The Doctor hadn’t returned but they decided to start the party anyway. Amy was smiling and gracious, but the person who knew her best knew she wouldn’t completely relax until the Doctor came back. When Sherlock got to her side and slipped an arm around her waist she leaned her head on his shoulder slightly. “He’ll be back soon,” he said.

“I just worry they’re interrogating him and he won’t be able to answer all their questions. And then they’ll find out about Melody,” she said.

“Have faith,” Sherlock murmured before pressing a kiss in her hair. At that moment the front door opened and they both turned to see the Doctor bounding up the stairs. “See? He’s back, healthy and whole.”

“Doctor,” Amy said with a wide smile. “How did it go?” The others turned to look and listen as well, Amy and Sherlock having filled them in on what his plan had been.

“UNIT is putting plans in place to let the world governments know what is coming so they can prepare,” the Doctor said. “We have sixty-seven days until it happens. And I checked on all of you. None of you are affected.”

“That makes me feel better,” John said. “Is half the world really going to have heart attacks all at once?”

The Doctor nodded. “But UNIT’s plans apparently help the governments save people, plus whatever is going on at St. Bart’s is a factor.”

“You couldn’t find out?” Martha asked.

“Something was blocking the TARDIS from landing anywhere near there that day,” he said with a slight frown. “Whatever it is that delivered these cubes to us, they don’t want me to find out. So it will be up to River and whoever else happens to be there that day.”

“The TARDIS couldn’t get there, but that doesn’t mean you can’t just walk in,” Mickey pointed out.

“True,” the Doctor said with a nod. “I hadn’t thought of it that way. I’ll just have to make sure I’m in the vicinity that day.”

“Pay a visit to your wife,” Lorna said. “I mean, unless River hasn’t told people she’s married?”

“I have no clue what River has been telling people,” he said with a smile. “She’s the most adept storyteller I’ve ever met, aside from myself. Whatever story she’s spinning, I don’t dare make any changes to it. If I’m admitted there, though, then I’ll have a reason to be there.” He paused as the front door opened again. “Were you expecting more guests?” he asked Amy and Sherlock with a frown.

“No,” Amy said, shaking her head. She moved away from Sherlock and went towards the door. “Oh my God, you came!” she said happily to the new arrival.

“Well, River did say I should spend her birthday with her,” Jack Harkness said with a grin as he hugged Amy tight. “But I figured I’d see the one-year-old version first.”

“Where’s Irene?” Amy asked cautiously as she pulled away.

“Not here,” Jack said with a chuckle. “She’s knows she’s ‘public enemy number one’ with you. She’s at home with the children.”

“How many do you have now?” the Doctor asked, going over to his old friend and giving him a hug.

“Three. She was carrying twins when we got married, she just didn’t know it yet.” He hugged the Doctor. “River paid us a visit last week, when she needed a break from the cube she’s babysitting. She also asked me to dig around and get more information.”

“That’s my girl,” the Doctor said with a fond smile.

“River thought I might still have some pull with Torchwood, or at least the Torchwood offices that are still around,” he said. When the Doctor pulled away he took off the bag on his back and pulled out a folder. “She was right. This is everything that Torchwood and UNIT have documented about the event.”

“The more information I can give Kate, the better,” the Doctor said as he began going through the file.

Sherlock, Mickey and John all came up to welcome Jack at that point. Amy stood by with a wide grin on her face. “How long can you stay?” she asked.

“Just the evening. As soon as I’m done here I’m going to spend some time with River. She and I are old friends now. I know the Doctor’s sent her to spy on Irene, just to be sure she’s not up to her old tricks. Then I’ll go home and spend some time with my wife and kids.” He looked at the Doctor. “Owen and Toshiko turn a year old soon, and Gwen will be three not that long after that. Or at least, soon my time. We’re having their parties at the same time. Will you come visit us, Doctor?”

“Of course,” he said with a nod, not looking up from what he is reading. “Wouldn’t miss that party for the world.”

“Good,” Jack said with a grin. “So! Where’s the birthday girl? I have presents appropriate for a little Time Lady and a big Time Lady. Hopefully I don’t get them mixed up.” He winked at Amy as he said that, and she chuckled.

“We were about to open presents,” Sherlock said with a nod. “I believe we were just waiting for the Doctor to return.”

“Put the file away for now,” Amy said, going over to the Doctor. “It’s present time.”

“Oh, very well,” he said with a slight sigh, setting the file on the kitchen counter. “Don’t lose that.”

Amy rolled her eyes. “I don’t lose important papers, Doctor. Just ask Sherlock.”

“She is much neater and more organized than I am,” Sherlock said with a nod.

“See? They’ll be fine.” She grinned at him. “Let’s go round up the birthday girl and open some presents, shall we?” She looked around and spotted Melody over by John, scooping her up and taking her to the table. “Presents from us first, I suppose, then the rest of you?” she asked everyone in the room, and they all nodded. “Okay then. Let’s get started.”

It took about an hour to open the presents, just because of the sheer volume everyone had gotten for her. Some of the presents were typical for a one-year-old child, like stuffed animals, but the overwhelming majority of the gifts were for older children. It seemed as though everyone in attendance could tell that Melody was different than other children her age. She seemed happy with each of her gifts, including the one that the Doctor had said was from River. No one thought it was strange that River was giving herself a gift, which said a lot about the people at the party.

“As she gets older and gets friends of her own we won’t be able to keep doing this,” Sherlock remarked quietly to Amy as Melody unwrapped something the Doctor called ‘the knot with only one end,’ which was a puzzle of some sort.

“I know. I’m enjoying it while I can,” Amy said. She took a sip of her punch. “Though I suppose as she gets older she might want to be treated more like a normal girl.”

“The Doctor suggested that that might be best,” he said with a nod as another present was put in front of Melody. “The more normally we treat her, the more she’ll be able to fit in.”

“Yes,” she replied. “I just hope we can do that.”

“I think we’ll be able to,” he said.

“I should be taking a picture,” she said as she watched the Doctor unwrap the gift from Mickey and Martha. She pulled her camera up and snapped a picture as Melody picked up the toy piano. “That is going to give me a headache after a week,” she murmured.

“It works like a real piano,” Martha said with a chuckle from nearby. “Not one of the cheap ones for children that makes the tinny music. Elisha likes hers, so we thought maybe you could get Melody to love music from an early age.” She reached over and touched a key. A clear note rang out. “See? It actually sounds like a piano.”

“Knowing our daughter, she’ll be a prodigy,” Amy said with a smile.

“Or she’ll absolutely hate it and refuse to use it,” John said, chuckling slightly. Then he turned to the Doctor. “Does River like music?”

“She does. And she’s a fairly good pianist,” he said with a grin. “So this is probably where it started.”

“Score one for our gift,” Mickey said with a smile.

“I see a larger piano in our future,” Sherlock said with a slight groan.

“Maybe the two of you can compose music together,” Lorna said. “It would be another way to bond.”

Sherlock thought about it for a moment. “I hadn’t considered that. That might be nice.”

“Is there anything that will help her bond with her mother in these gifts?” Amy asked, though she was still smiling.

“This might,” Jack said. He handed Amy a cube shaped gift. “It’s not one of the invading cubes, I promise.”

“I should hope not,” she said, handing the camera to Sherlock and then moving over to Melody. She tore the paper a bit and Melody grabbed the rest, pulling it off. “What does it do?” Amy asked, looking at Jack.

“It’s a portable art gallery,” he said. He came over to them and turned the cube over. He pressed a button on the top and a hologram of a Monet painting came up. “It’s got all the classics, plus a few surprises. He moved a dial and paused as a beautiful portrait came up. “That’s an Amelia Holmes original.”

“You mean I become a famous artist?” Amy said, a look of shock on her face.

He nodded. “We have three of your paintings in our home. Irene had to pay a small fortune for them. I’m sure you’ll become more famous after your death, but your work is hanging in quite a few well known galleries in my time.”

“Wow,” she said, completely awed. “I always thought I would be a famous writer or something like that.”

“Well, you write as well, plus you act a bit later. You become a modern day Renaissance woman, I suppose.” He grinned at her. “I didn’t include most of your paintings, just so I don’t influence you too much. But the three we have in our home are on here. Plus, the Doctor told me you’d met Vincent van Gogh. All of his work is on there, including this painting.” He turned the dial again and the painting of the sunflowers came up. He thumbed another dial and it got bigger, and the dedication to her was clearly visible. “Dedicated to our very own Amelia.”

“Wow,” Lorna said. “That’s beautiful.”

“Well, not everyone can inspire Shakespeare,” Jack said, winking at Martha, who chuckled. “Some just need to inspire the greatest artist of all time.”

“I want to inspire someone,” John said.

“You do. Just keep writing that blog of yours,” Jack said. “You and Sherlock inspire a whole generation of police officers and people who solve crimes for fun. There’s even a society dedicated to Sherlock in my time, for people who consult detectives on particularly tricky crimes.”

“I didn’t know I had that kind of legacy,” Sherlock said, surprised.

“I get the feeling people will talk about the two of you for centuries,” the Doctor said with a smile, “long after they leave the planet and begin traveling the stars.”

“It’s quite a bit to live up to,” Sherlock said.

“Just keep doing what you’re doing and you’ll be fine,” Jack said, clapping him on the shoulder. “So, are there any more presents?”

“Nope,” the Doctor said. “That was the last of them.”

“Then I’ve got about an hour to socialize and catch up before I need to go visit River,” Jack said with a grin. “I know I can cheat and find out how all of you are doing by looking you up, but I want to hear it from you. It’s not often I get to see good friends. So, other than the cubes, what’s going on?”

They all started chatting as Amy served the cake to everyone. Jack ended up staying later than he had planned, and left making promises to visit more often. Mickey and Martha soon followed in order to get Elisha home in time for her dinner and bedtime, leaving John and Lorna as the only guests. The five of them talked for a little while longer as they cleaned up, and then John and Lorna left as well.

“That was a good party,” Amy said when it was just her, Sherlock and the Doctor. They were sitting on the sofa, Amy in between the two men she fondly referred to as “her boys.” She put one arm around the Doctor’s shoulders, and then the other around Sherlock’s. “Melody seems fascinated with the knot.”

“She never solves it,” the Doctor said with a smile. “Of course, neither did I, and I’ve had it since I was about her age.”

“That’s a nine hundred year old baby toy?” Sherlock said, raising an eyebrow.

The Doctor nodded. “Yes. Most of the gifts I gave her were ones saved from my own childhood.” His smile dimmed slightly for a moment before he shook his head slightly, and then it was back as brightly as before. “Your son will appreciate these gifts when he’s a child as well, though River hates sharing this particular one.”

“We’ll have to remember that,” Amy said.

“Well, it’s getting late. You two should go off and do whatever it is you two are going to do,” he said, turning to them. “Get it out of your system.”

Amy chuckled, removing her arm from his shoulders before leaning over and kissing his cheek. “My favorite prude. Are you sure you’ll be all right with her?”

“Yes, yes, we’ll be absolutely fine,” he said with a nod as Sherlock got off the sofa.

“All right. We’ll go pack a few things,” Amy said as she got up as well. She reached over for Sherlock’s hand and they left the room.

The Doctor looked at Melody, who was chewing on the wooden knot. “That’s not how you solve it,” he said with a chuckle. He stood up and scooped her up before sitting back down and putting her on his lap. “If I had my sonic I’d show you the stars tonight to lull you to sleep, but you’ll see them soon enough.” Melody leaned her head against his chest. “We’ll be fine on our own tonight, you and I. You do love me, after all.” She nodded slightly and he smiled, closing his eyes.

They were still like that when Amy and Sherlock came back out, Amy with their bag and Sherlock with the baby monitor that sat on their nightstand. Amy quietly went over for the camera, aimed it at them, and took a picture. “For posterity’s sake,” she said quietly to Sherlock, who nodded with a slight smile on his face. Then she set down the camera and cleared her throat. The Doctor’s eyes snapped open. “We’ll be leaving now. If you need us, call my cell phone. I know you have the number. We’ll leave the monitor out here so you can take it to your room to hear if she wakes up.”

“We won’t need to call you,” he said with a smile. “We’ll be perfectly fine without you. Go on. Have fun, you two.”

Amy came over and kissed the top of Melody’s head. “Good-bye, sweetheart. See you tomorrow.” Then she went back over to Sherlock and they left.

“Are you tired, Melody?” the Doctor asked quietly, and she nodded slightly. “Let’s put you to bed, shall we?” He carefully got up off the couch and carried her to her room. He put her in the ancient crib, running his hands along the wood for a moment. “Good night, Melody. Sleep well, and dream of the stars.” Then he leaned over and kissed her forehead gently before going back to the other room and grabbing the monitor. He might not have his sonic, but he had the file, and he could keep himself well occupied with that. Knowledge was power, and that file might be the key to unlocking everything.


	3. Chapter 3

**Day 100**

Sherlock was awake before anyone else in the household. Though the Doctor had told him that the important event would start at ten in the morning Sherlock slept restlessly that night. He awoke at five seventeen. He lay in bed, keeping Amy close to him. The Doctor had said that no one died as a result of the invasion, and that all of them were safe, but Sherlock was still worried that something might change. After all, Sherlock knew from what the Doctor had told them of the other universe, where Amy was with Rory instead, that time could be rewritten. He did not want that to happen. 

“I can tell you’re not asleep,” Amy murmured sleepily about thirty minutes after he awoke.

He blinked. “How can you tell?” he asked, his lips close to her ear.

“Because you’re rubbing my stomach lightly. When you’re asleep you have a death grip on my waist but you don’t move.” She rolled over to face him. “You’re worried, aren’t you?”

“Yes,” he said, nodding slightly.

“I am, too. He didn’t check up on Aunt Sharon, or any of my friends who he doesn’t know. So things could still happen to them today.” She looked at him intently. “Are we sure he checked everyone we know?”

“Fairly sure. We can ask him when he wakes up.”

“If he ever went to sleep in the first place,” Amy said with a slight smile. “He’s worse about that than you are.”

“He’s a Time Lord. He just doesn’t need the sleep,” Sherlock said, draping an arm over her waist and rubbing her back gently. “I imagine Melody will be much the same.”

“That’s going to make bedtimes a nightmare. I can just imagine our son getting upset that we let her stay up all night when he needs to get at least eight hours,” she said as her smile widened.

Sherlock chuckled lightly. “Yes, I can foresee that being a problem.”

She inched closer to him. “You know, there’s still time before everyone gets up,” she said. “Time we can spend alone.”

“Do you have anything specific in mind with what you want to do?” he asked, moving his hand to the bottom hem of her shirt before sliding it up underneath.

“Kissing my husband for a bit,” she replied, her smile becoming more seductive. “Maybe doing a bit more than that.”

“I personally would like to go straight to the ‘doing more than that’ part,” he said, sliding her shirt up higher.

“I like that idea,” she replied, shifting slightly so he could pull her shirt off. He tossed it to the side before pushing her down onto her back and hovering over her. “I can’t wait until the Doctor leaves so I won’t feel like I’m sneaking around with my own husband.”

“It does make it more interesting,” he replied, kissing her collarbone as she reached to pull his shirt off.

“Not really,” she said, pulling it up. He moved so she could remove it completely a moment later. “The last time we did anything was the night we went to the hotel room. That was about two months ago.”

“I apologize for being lax in my husbandly duties,” he said, moving back in to nip at her neck. “I will make it a point not to let it happen again.”

She giggled at that. “It’s all right. Just promise me that when we’re alone tonight you’ll have your wicked way with me. Twice.”

“I promise,” he said. She reached up and framed his face in her hands, and he leaned forward and kissed her deeply. She moved her hands to his shoulders as he ran one hand along her side before making his way lower and reaching for the top of her sleeping pants. She lifted her hips up just as there was a pounding on the door. Sherlock pulled away from the kiss and hung his head. “I’m going to hurt him,” he murmured.

“I’ll help,” Amy said with a sigh. Sherlock rolled onto his back as Amy sat up, pulling the sheet against her bare chest. “Yes?” she said more loudly, looking at the door.

“I was just wondering if the two of you were awake,” the Doctor said from the other side.

“Yes, we are,” Sherlock said, his voice slightly gruff.

“Was I interrupting something?” the Doctor asked quietly.

“Yes,” Sherlock and Amy chorused.

There was a pause before the Doctor spoke again. “ _Oh._ You were doing… _that_.”

Amy shook her head. “Not quite yet, but that was the general idea.”

“I’ll leave. I’ll go. Go back to…I’ll go.”

“Moment’s ruined anyway,” Sherlock said, sitting up and looking for his shirt. He found it and put it on as Amy began to look for hers. “I suppose I’ll go start the coffee,” he said to Amy.

“Oh no you don’t. I don’t want super-strong coffee this morning,” Amy said, leaning over the side of the bed. “Just remember he’ll probably leave tonight, so don’t kill him.”

“River would never forgive me if I murdered her husband,” he said, getting out of bed. “Even if I could get away with it.”

“He’d just regenerate,” Amy said, finding her shirt before slipping it on over her head. “And for all we know, the new Doctor might be _worse_.”

Sherlock froze in his step. “I don’t want to think about that.”

“I don’t either. I love this one a lot. Martha told me how different his other regeneration was.” She got out of bed. “One day, ask her about him and Rose. It makes me think about how lucky our daughter got, that he was able to fall in love with her after all of that.”

“I will,” he said with a nod as he got to the door. He grabbed his robe and slipped it on before opening the door, but the Doctor was no longer on the other side. He waited for Amy to do the same, and the two of them went out into the other room. The Doctor was nowhere to be seen. “Strange,” he murmured.

“Where did he go?” Amy asked.

“Probably Melody’s room,” Sherlock said with a slight shrug before going into the kitchen. He headed towards the coffee maker, but Amy got to it a moment later and slapped his hand away. “My coffee is not that bad.”

“It’s just too strong,” she said, nudging him to the side. “Go see if Melody is up and feed her. I’ll take care of coffee and breakfast.”

“You really are the boss in the kitchen,” he murmured before leaning over and kissing the top of her head. 

“Yes. Yes, I am,” she said with a nod and a smile. She caught him by the waist before he moved too far away, and when he looked at her she leaned up and kissed him on the lips. “But you’re still the more brilliant one between the two of us.”

“And without you taking care of me, I would be far worse off,” he said, leaning in to kiss her again. She set down the pot of water in her hand and moved closer to him, deepening the kiss. After a moment she pulled away and he grinned at her. “I owe you so much,” he murmured.

“Yes, you do,” she said with a wide smile. Then she let go of him. “Go see if our son-in-law is with our daughter, and if he is, tell him to come out for breakfast.”

“All right,” he said with a nod, leaving her in the kitchen to start the coffee. He made his way to Melody’s room and saw the Doctor standing there, a smiling Melody in his arms. Sherlock watched for a moment, leaning against the doorjamb with a slight smile on his face. “I see she’s awake,” he said about five minutes later.

“We were just having a little chat,” the Doctor replied with a grin, turning to face Sherlock. “Well, I was doing most of the talking. She didn’t say very much. More than a typical girl her age would, but not much.”

“I’ve been told to collect the two of you for breakfast,” he said.

“Of course. May I carry her out?” Sherlock nodded and pushed away from the doorway. “I’m awfully sorry about earlier.”

“You _are_ leaving after all of this is finished, correct?” Sherlock asked as the Doctor got to him.

The Doctor nodded, probably more emphatically than he needed to. “Yes. There is a lot I need to deal with, things that I have put off. Finding out what the Silence was up to, finding a new companion, _et cetera_.”

“I thought River was going to be your companion,” Sherlock said with a frown.

“Not all the time. She’s still working on her doctorate. When that’s done, perhaps then. But she keeps telling me I shouldn’t travel alone, and she’s right. I get into too much trouble when I’m alone.” They made their way to the kitchen, where Amy was cracking eggs into a bowl. “I’m open to ideas. Perhaps for a time, one of my old companions might come back?” He said the last bit more hopefully.

“Martha, Mickey, Sherlock and I all have families and jobs,” Amy said without looking up. “And Lorna wants to see what’s going to develop with John, and he’s not able to pick up and travel right now.” She looked at him. “What about some of the other people who have travelled with you? Before us?”

A pained look crossed the Doctor’s face. “Most of them…no, it’s not a possibility.”

Amy caught his eye. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to dredge up old hurts.”

“It’s all right,” the Doctor replied. “Rose is happy with the human version of me, I hope. And Donna…well, there’s nothing I can do about that. But she was happy, too, the last time I looked in on her. That’s what matters in the end, I suppose.”

“What about…what’s his name…” Amy paused. “What about Wilf? Martha mentioned a Wilf.”

The Doctor brightened slightly. “He might. I mean, if Donna’s fine and all that, he might. And he has forgiven me for what I had to do to her. It _would_ be nice to see him again, even if it’s only for one trip somewhere.”

“Find out,” Amy said with a smile. “If Donna’s doing well maybe he’ll agree to a trip.”

“Hopefully.” The grin on his face brightened after a moment. “I should introduce him to Mrs. Hudson! I think they’d get on well together.”

“She adores you, you know,” Sherlock said smiling as the Doctor put Melody in her high chair. “I think she’ll miss you greatly when you leave.”

“It just gives me more of a reason to come visit,” the Doctor said. “I finally told her the truth last week. She took it better than I expected.”

Amy nodded. “Mrs. Hudson, Sherlock and I talked long into the night after you went to see River.” Then Amy’s eyes widened. “You should take her somewhere!”

“I just might,” he said with a nod. “Has she met River?”

Sherlock shook his head as he went into the kitchen to get Melody’s food. “No. Melody is usually here, and since she and River can’t be in the same room…”

“But she does know about her?” the Doctor asked.

Amy nodded. “She does. We told her the whole story--about how Melody is special and in nineteen years she’ll be gone and River will be in her place. She seemed interested in meeting her.”

“If I take her somewhere I might have River stop by for a visit,” the Doctor said before leaning over and kissing the top of Melody’s head. Then he straightened up and clapped his hands together. “So! How long until breakfast is ready?”

“I just cracked the eggs,” she said. “Still need to dice the vegetables, mix it all up and cook it. And that’s not counting the bacon. I also want toast as well.”

“I’ll just have the eggs,” the Doctor said, making a face. He watched as Sherlock came over to Melody with her food. “I can’t believe she’s a year old. It doesn’t seem like it was all that long ago that we were rescuing her and Amy from Madame Kovarian.” Sherlock looked up quickly and saw Amy freeze in place. He got up and moved over to her, murmuring something close to her ear. “Oh, I’m sorry. I am so, _so_ sorry.”

“We don’t talk about her,” Sherlock said as Amy turned and hugged him. “We try very hard never to say her name.”

“I should have known that,” the Doctor said quietly. He made his way over to Amy. “It’s still bad? The nightmares?”

“Not as bad,” Amy said, her voice slightly muffled. “But I still…she just…I can’t…” Sherlock tightened his hold on her. “There are days when I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to move on from that experience, or if I’ll ever feel completely safe ever again.”

The Doctor reached over and stroked her hair back. “I’m so sorry, Amy,” he said softly. “I’m so very sorry that happened to you, and that you don’t feel safe. I will do my best to make sure you stay safe, I swear. I swear on everything important, all right?”

“All right,” she said, turning to look at him. She rested her head on Sherlock’s chest as he rubbed her back gently. “Maybe one day I’ll move on from it enough that this doesn’t happen. One day I’ll have to explain things to Melody, so she understands. So she’s prepared. But I’m trying to put that day off as long as possible.”

“I understand,” the Doctor said with a nod. Amy let go of Sherlock and the Doctor moved closer, leaning over and kissing the top of her head. “You were very brave, you know. The bravest of the brave.”

“No I wasn’t,” Amy said, shaking her head slightly. “By the time I had Melody, I’d given up hope. I didn’t think you would ever come and find me. And that was what _she_ told me. That you both had abandoned me. That I would be there forever, all alone.”

“That’s where those nightmares come from,” Sherlock said quietly.

Amy nodded. “She broke me down,” she said. “It wasn’t until you came through that door and I threw the canister at your head that I knew she was wrong. Even then, I didn’t believe it at first, not until I was holding you and I knew you were real. That you were really there.”

This time the Doctor pulled her against him, and she wrapped her arms around his waist, resting her head on his shoulder. “She’s gone. They’re all gone.”

“Are they?” she asked, lifting her head up to look at him. “Are they really?”

“Even if they aren’t, I will protect you from them.” He let go of her and framed her face with his hands. “I swear to you, Amelia. I will keep them from harming you ever again.”

“All right,” Amy said, nodding slightly. Then she pulled away slightly and the Doctor let go of her face. “Look at us, so maudlin. Let’s change the subject, all right?”

The Doctor nodded. “All right. What else should we talk about?”

Amy launched into small talk, chatting about unimportant things to take their minds off not only what had happened to her but what was going to happen later that day. The conversation continued through breakfast and into the clean-up,. By the time seven thirty rolled around, however, the three of them were quiet. The time for waiting had begun.

\--

“So. Today’s the day,” Molly said, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. She was in her office in the morgue with River and Rory. River looked calmer than either of them, and Molly was trying to draw strength from that. “Anything we should do?”

“Just go about your normal routines,” River said, taking a sip of the tea she had gotten from the cafeteria twenty minutes earlier. Molly’s shift had started at nine, and Rory’s wasn’t supposed to begin until eleven. They all knew, however, that if Rory was around he would probably get called in when the cubes got activated at ten. River knew that he was important to whatever was going to happen that day and she wanted him nice and close.

“How long till it starts?” Rory asked, glancing at his watch.

“Twenty minutes,” River said, glancing at her own wrist. “Give or take a few minutes.”

“Did your husband let you look at those papers he had?” Molly asked.

River nodded. “Even if he hadn’t, the man who gave them to my husband had copies for me. Jack likes me just as much as he likes my husband, but he knows that the Doctor won’t always share information. Probably because he thinks it would keep me safe.” Then River smiled. “I do love him so for that, but there are other times when I find it bloody annoying.”

Rory chuckled. “He did that the first time I met him, with the coma patients. I think it’s just because he was thinking so fast and there was so little time to fix things.” Rory glanced at his cup of coffee. “Do you ever get the feeling that, maybe in the scheme of everything, we’re all vastly less important than he is?”

“I feel that way all the time,” River said with a nod. “To him, though, we’re the most important people in the world. He would rip time and space apart for any of us. Even the two of you, and he doesn’t know you that well yet.”

“I’m honored,” Molly said with a smile. “It makes me feel good that there is someone willing to look out for me.”

“Trust me, he values humanity above all else, and if you’re lucky enough to become one of his friends then he’ll put you at the top of his list of important things in life. I know the two of you become good friends of my family, and therefore you’re good friends of his.”

“I thought your father would hate me for the rest of his life,” Rory mused. “I mean, he wasn’t fond of me as a child. And then there was the incident right before he left for London. If that wasn’t bad enough, after that I tried to kidnap the infant version of you. Even though I was brainwashed, I can see why he would hate the very sight of me.”

“Sherlock does like to hold grudges,” River said with a chuckle. “He mellows as time goes by, though. My mother has always been the best influence on him. Or at least this version of him.”

“You were talking about that once, where Amy and I got married and we lost the baby version of you that we had,” Rory said. “Did it really go that differently for him?”

“Vastly differently,” River said with a nod. “He was more of a living breathing robot than a well-rounded man, at least until he met John Watson. Then he had to give it all up to keep his friends safe.”

“I can’t imagine that,” Molly said, shaking her head. “Well, I can imagine this Sherlock doing it, now. After Amy and all that. But to give up your friends and family? That would kill him. That would kill me, too. I don’t know if I could do it.”

“Let’s hope _this_ Sherlock never has to,” Rory said. “Let’s hope none of us have to.”

“I don’t think any of you will have to,” River said with a smile. “Things are so much better in this universe. No major sacrifices have to be made for the sake of anyone. It almost seems as though everyone gets their happy endings.”

“What happened to me in the other version of things?” Molly asked. “I gather that Rory and Amy were happy together, so I’m curious.”

River leaned back in her chair. “You lead a fairly unremarkable life. The one thing you do which makes you special is that you tell Sherlock how to fall from the roof without killing himself, and help him convince everyone that he had died. Then he comes to you and you set him to rights and send him on his way. You two become friendly after that point. But nothing more happens. He just becomes a good friend.”

“I feel so silly, having had a crush on him,” Molly said with a smile. Then she turned to Rory. “If I’d held onto it much longer I would have missed out on something wonderful.”

Rory grinned back and reached over for her hand, lacing his fingers through hers. “I felt the same way about Amy. Almost two-thirds of her life she’d been in love with Sherlock. None of the rest of us stood a chance. It’s a good thing we didn’t get married. We’re both better off.”

“Yes, I think you are,” River said with a smile. “And not just because I wouldn’t be here if it’d turned out differently.”

“Not to get off the subject entirely, but what happened to you in the other version of things?” Rory asked River.

“I wasn’t raised by the two of you, but I _did_ get to grow up with you, as your childhood friend Mels.”

“Mels Zucker?” Rory asked, his eyes wide. “Bloody hell. She’s an absolute hellion.” He reached over for his cup of coffee and took a sip.

“And my version was a lot worse,” River said with a chuckle. “But she was also the reason the two of you got together. For the longest time Amy, thought you were gay.”

Rory spit out the coffee. “She thought I was _gay_?”

Molly and River laughed. After a moment, Molly got something to clean up the coffee. “Yes, she did,” River said as the laughter tapered down. “Mostly because you never showed interest in any other female as long as she had known you. She mistook that for you not liking women at all, when it was really the fact that you only liked her.”

“I’m glad she didn’t feel that way here,” Rory grumbled.

Molly went over and kissed his cheek. “I don’t know. I think it’s rather cute.”

“It is _not_ bloody cute,” he said in a huff.

“I’m teasing,” Molly said while wiping up the coffee. “Not to change the subject, but shouldn’t the two of you run up to the lab now? Only ten minutes until the cube should do whatever it’s going to do.”

“Good point,” River said with a nod, finishing her tea. “We’ll see you later, Molly.”

“Bye, love,” Rory said, giving his wife a quick kiss before River stood up. They gathered their things and left the morgue, heading up to the lab River had basically stolen from her father. It took them seven minutes to get there, and when they arrived they both sat on stools to watch the cube. “I wonder what this one is going to do,” Rory said.

River glanced at her watch. “We’ll find out in three minutes.”

“None of those cubes in the morgue, right?” Rory asked.

“No,” River replied, shaking her head. “I made sure they were all taken out yesterday. As far as I know, the only cube-free places in this hospital are the morgue and the administration office.”

“Yeah, Hettie has hated those things since day one,” Rory said. “I wonder if she had any clue about what they could do.”

“I doubt it,” she replied. “She doesn’t like things she can’t explain, and so far no one except us has an explanation for them. Even ours is incomplete.” She looked at the cube. “We’ll know soon enough, though.”

“I suppose so,” Rory said, turning his attention from River to the clock on the wall. After two minutes he looked back to his wrist. “Thirty seconds to ten. Should I count down?”

“No, that’s all right. I’ll do it in my head.” She looked at him for a moment before they both turned their attention to the cube. Precisely thirty seconds later the cube began to levitate. “Fascinating,” she murmured.

Suddenly the cube began to glow red and then began emitting heat. “This one is dangerous,” Rory said. “It’s like a heat lamp.”

“There’s got to be some place we can put it where it won’t be a danger,” River murmured as it dropped onto the table. “Quickly. We need to find something.”

Rory jumped off his stool and began rummaging through the lab equipment. He found a pair of tongs and pointed to one of Sherlock’s special pieces of lab equipment. “Supposedly that’s shielded for heat.”

“Perfect,” she said, taking the tongs from Rory. She picked up the cube with the tongs and quickly got it to the equipment, dropping it in. “There.”

“Your father is not going to be happy about the state of the countertop,” Rory said, looking at the melted countertop.

River looked at it after a moment. “No, probably not. At least it didn’t hurt either of us.”

“There is that.” Rory looked to say something else when his cell phone began to vibrate. “Pardon me a moment.” He stepped away, putting the phone to his ear as River went to observe the now white hot cube. After a moment he joined her. “More of these cubes are dangerous than we thought. Patients are in a panic, so I’ve been asked to come in ahead of shift.”

“Be careful, Rory,” River said, laying a hand on his arm. “You’re the most important man in the hospital today.”

“Pressure. Just what I need,” he said with a faint smile. “You be careful too, all right?”

“I will.” He nodded and left the room. River turned her attention back to the cube. She hoped the whole hospital didn’t go into a panic that when the cubes did what they were all dreading. That would be the last thing they needed today.

\--

“It’s shooting lasers!” the Doctor yelled as he slammed the door to his room, running out into the common room. After a moment he covered his ears. “What is that sound?”

“One of the damn cubes is emitting a whine,” Amy said. “We can’t figure out which one. I _told_ the two of you we didn’t need this many cubes in the house.” Then she stopped. “What do you mean, _lasers_?”

“Beams of light and heat are coming out of the cube trying to kill me,” the Doctor said as he uncovered his ears and began looking for the cube with Sherlock and Amy. After a moment Sherlock plucked up a cube and then nearly dropped it as he brought it up towards his ear. He quickly dropped it on the sofa and covered it with a pillow, and the loud whine was muffled. “Thank goodness. You found it.”

“Get all the cubes out of here,” Amy said. “ _Especially_ the laser one.”

“I don’t think it’s safe to go back in the room,” Sherlock said.

“If there’s another fire, Mrs. Hudson will kill us all,” Amy said. Then her eyes widened. “I need to make sure she’s all right.”

“Go,” Sherlock said with a nod. “I don’t there are any any cubes in her part of the house, but make sure.”

“I’ll take Melody with me,” Amy said, getting their daughter out of her playpen. “If it’s safer there I’ll have Mrs. Hudson watch her while we do what we need to do.”

“Yes, I’m fairly sure we’ll be called to UNIT headquarters shortly,” the Doctor said.

Amy was about to respond when she set Melody back down and pulled out her ringing phone. “Hello? Slow down, Martha. Calm down. They what?” There was a pause and Amy’s eyes widened. “Absolutely. Bring her here, of course. And I’m so sorry. I just…Sherlock and I will help however we can, all right? I’m sure everyone will.” There was another pause. “Let me talk to Mrs. Hudson and I’ll see what we can do. I promise. Everything will be fine. See you soon.” Amy hung up and looked at the Doctor and Sherlock. “One of the cubes set their flat on fire.”

“Damn,” Sherlock said. “Are they all right?”

“Martha was home at the time with Elisha. They got out, but the place is uninhabitable. She’s panicking. Mickey wants her to come into UNIT to make sure she’s okay but she doesn’t want Elisha anywhere near the cubes.” She turned her gaze to the Doctor and Sherlock. “Every single cube in this house leaves when we do. Even the one shooting lasers. Understood?”

“Yes, of course,” the Doctor said. “Where are they going to stay?”

“I’m going to see if Mrs. Hudson will let them stay here for a time,” Amy said, picking Melody up again. “They shouldn’t have to camp out in a hotel. If it’s all right with you, Doctor, when this is all over tonight it might be best if you go back to the TARDIS.”

“Right, absolutely,” he replied, nodding emphatically as Sherlock carried a box over to them. “I’ll find a way to take care of the cube in my room. You go talk to Mrs. Hudson.”

Amy left the room with Melody and both the Doctor and Sherlock watched her leave. “I thought you made sure everyone was okay,” Sherlock said, beginning to gather up the less harmful cubes.

“I checked to make sure everyone survived. I should have been more thorough,” the Doctor said with a sigh. “I’ll help them however I can. It’s only right.”

“We’ll help as well, and I’m sure John and Lorna will too,” Sherlock said. He picked up one cube and suddenly dropped it. “Damn spikes,” he muttered.

“Did you cut yourself?” the Doctor asked, concerned.

“Yes, but it’s only a minor wound.” He looked at the cube, then managed to pick it up more gently that time. “I will be happy when this is all over. I had hoped to have my home back to rights tonight, but I see that will not happen. It’s just as well, though. They are friends, and I think they deserve some help.”

“It must be nice to have more friends than just Amy,” the Doctor said with a grin as he picked up more cubes. “You have quite a few these days.”

“I do. I would not have expected that,” Sherlock said with a nod, dropping the cube into the box. “It felt strange, having gone through my adolescence with only one friend. Now I have a lot more than that. Of course, I ended up marrying my best friend, so there is that.”

“I thought John was your best friend,” the Doctor said.

“He is a good friend. But as Amy said once, while she is my wife, at the end of the day she is also my friend. She will always be my best friend, because she was my first friend. I am told I can have other best friends, however.”

“I like to think of all of you as my very best friends,” the Doctor said as he dumped an armful of cubes in the box. He looked at the one under the pillow. “Eventually we will have to move that one.”

“We can wrap it in clothing to muffle the sound,” Sherlock said as he picked up another cube. “I hope we get explanations for them soon. This has been the longest I’ve ever gone without solving a mystery, and I don’t like it.” He paused for a moment. “Second longest time, I mean. I keep forgetting about the Carl Powers case. I went years without solving that one.”

“How many?”

“Nearly ten. Moriarty murdered him. I didn’t know until he began leaving clues.”

“That name sounds familiar,” the Doctor said with a frown.

“He’s the one who strapped a bomb to Amelia. The one I beat into a coma,” Sherlock said quietly.

“Ah,” the Doctor said with a nod. “The criminal mastermind.”

“Yes.” Sherlock looked down. “I wonder what happened to his organization at times, the state of it. I would find out, but I foresee there would be extensive traveling involved. I do not want to be away from my family and friends for that length of time.”

“I can help,” the Doctor said. “I can find out for you. The Silence can wait a bit longer.”

Sherlock looked at him for a moment, then nodded slowly. “All right. I will accept your help. And in turn, I offer my services on your own mystery.”

“Thank you.” The Doctor looked at him. “Let’s get all of these cubes boxed up and then figure out what to do about the one in my room. I think that will be the hardest to deal with.”

“I agree,” Sherlock said with a nod. They collected the rest of the cubes and were finished wrangling the one with the lasers by the time Martha arrived, Elisha in her arms. “Hello, Martha,” Sherlock said as she joined himself, Amy and the Doctor in the common room.

“I can’t believe it’s all gone,” she said quietly before sighing. “I’m just happy we got out of there alive.”

“Mrs. Hudson offered to watch Elisha and Melody,” Amy said, going over to Martha and giving her a hug as soon as she set Elisha down. Martha hugged her back. “The three of you can stay here for as long as you need. Don’t mind the scorch marks in the room. The Doctor’s pet cube had lasers.”

“How did the fire start?” the Doctor asked, getting up to hug Martha as soon as Amy was done.

“One of the cubes burst into flames. I didn’t even know it was there. The sofa caught on fire, then the curtains. It burned so fast, I was just barely able to get out alive,” Martha said, shutting her eyes as she held onto the Doctor tightly. “Why didn’t you tell me this would happen?”

“I didn’t know. It wasn’t in the papers Jack gave me, and all I did was check and see if any of your hearts had stopped. I didn’t think to look for anything else, and it’s too late to check now.” He pulled away and looked at her. “Whatever you need, just ask. I feel partially to blame for all this.”

“It’s all right, Doctor,” Martha said with a wan smile. “Like I said, we didn’t even know the cube was there.”

“I’d take him up on his offer,” Sherlock said. “You said you had the largest closet in the universe, correct?”

“I do!” the Doctor said to Martha with a grin. “At least let me get you clothing so you don’t need to replace everything.”

“And I plan on getting Elisha all sorts of stuff,” Amy said, picking the toddler up. “Whatever she wants. Mrs. Hudson said she would find Elisha a bed that we could put into Melody’s room. I don’t think my daughter would mind a roommate for a bit. Would you mind sharing a room with Melody?” she asked Elisha, who shook her head. “Okay then. It’s settled.”

“Thank you so much, both of you,” Martha said, smiling at Amy, then Sherlock. “I know the both of you probably wanted your home back after this one was done here.” She inclined her head towards the Doctor. “I know I would.”

“We did, but you are our friends and it’s not right to leave you without a home,” Sherlock said. “If we can help, we will.”

“And just think, two years ago he never would have thought that,” Amy said with a smile, giving Elisha back to her mother before going over to kiss Sherlock’s cheek. “I _am_ a good influence.”

“Yes, you are,” he replied with a nod. “Why don’t you take Elisha to Mrs. Hudson, Martha, and then we can go to UNIT. I’m sure your husband would like to see in person that you are all right. If I was in his position I would feel the same way.”

“I will,” she said with a nod.

“Come on. I’ll take you,” Amy said. The two women and Elisha walked over towards Mrs. Hudson’s part of the home at that point.

“It’s going to be even more of a full house for a bit,” Sherlock said. “But I suppose we’ll manage.”

“You’re doing a good thing,” the Doctor said, clapping his hand on Sherlock’s shoulder. “That’s the important part.”

“I know. It appears these cubes are going to be a bother even after all this is done.” Sherlock sighed. “Hopefully it will not be for too long. Seven people in this housee will be a bit much if it goes on more than, say, a month.”

“I don’t think they’ll stay that long. Martha and Mickey like having their own place, and I’m sure they’ll find something quickly.” The Doctor squeezed Sherlock’s shoulder for a moment and then let go. “Let’s double check all the rooms and make sure we got every last cube. Your wife will be angry if we accidentally leave any.”

“Very well,” Sherlock said with a nod. “Let’s go get the rest of them.”

\--

The trip to UNIT did not take very long. Mickey was waiting just inside the entrance, pacing slightly. When Martha came through the doors he pulled her into an embrace. “I could have lost both of you,” he said, his voice slightly thick.

“But you didn’t,” Martha said, hugging her husband tightly. “We’re both safe.”

They stayed like that for a few moments before Mickey pulled away, looking at Sherlock and Amy. “Martha said we’ll be staying with you for a bit. Thanks, mate.”

“It’s not a problem,” Sherlock said with a nod. 

“You’d do the same for us if our positions were reversed,” Amy said with a smile.

“Yeah, we would,” Mickey said with a slight grin. “All the cubes activated at ten, just like you said, Doctor. We’re still observing the less dangerous ones in the rooms they were in before. The dangerous ones have been locked up.” He looked at the box. “I see you have more for the collection.”

“I refuse to have them in the house while the children are there,” Amy said.

“The one in the heatproof container has been firing lasers,” the Doctor said. “So I apologize for the scorch marks in the room you will be staying in.”

“We’ll put that one with the dangerous ones,” Mickey said with a nod, taking the box from the Doctor. “Follow me?”

“Where’s Kate?” Martha asked.

“Observing one cube in particular,” he said. “It started counting down. It’s been going since ten. Every minute it counts down a number. In about ten minutes, it will hit zero.”

“I’d like to have a look at that one,” the Doctor replied.

“I would as well,” Sherlock said.

“I’ll take you to it as soon as I hand these off to someone for observation,” Mickey said with a nod. They made their way further into UNIT headquarters as Mickey led them down into an area that looked familiar to Sherlock. There were pillars with cubes on them, and one locked in a box.

“What’s the deal with the box?” Amy asked, going over to it.

“Open it up and find out,” Mickey said, his grin becoming a slight smirk.

Amy opened the box and music came pouring out. She shut it quickly as Mickey chuckled. “That was mean,” she said, giving Mickey a mild glare.

“What was that?” Sherlock asked.

“The Chicken Dance,” Martha said, smacking her husband on the shoulder. “You don’t know?”

“I generally tend to ignore music that isn’t classical or opera,” Sherlock said with a slight shrug.

“It’s true. I spent more time listening to him play classical pieces on his violin than I did pop music as a kid,” Amy said with a smile. “I think that’s why I like classical music so much. It was mostly when I was a teenager that I got into other music.”

“Wow. I thought everyone had heard that song,” Mickey said, his eyes wide. “It’s one of the most annoying songs on the planet.”

“I could tell from that brief bit,” Sherlock said.

“Ah, I’m glad you’re okay,” Kate said to Martha from a little farther down the room. “We were all worried. Is the damage bad?”

“The place is totaled,” Martha said. “We lost everything.”

“I’m so sorry,” Kate said. “Anything I can do, just let me know.”

“Thanks, Kate,” Martha said with a smile.

“I take it you want to see the cube that has us the most perplexed,” Kate said, looking at the Doctor and Sherlock. Both men nodded. “Follow me.” The five of them made their way to a room with a single table and a chair. There was a cube sitting on the end of the table opposite of the chair, and no one was in there. “We’ve had it under recorded observation. It’s done nothing but count down.”

“Do you want to go in?” the Doctor asked Sherlock.

Sherlock thought about it a moment. “You’re an alien. Perhaps it will respond better to you, not being human yourself.”

“But you are the one with interrogation experience.”

“Boys, why don’t _both_ of you go in,” Amy said, rolling her eyes. “I’m sure one of you can stand.”

“She does have a point,” Martha said.

“Very well,” the Doctor replied as Sherlock nodded. “Let’s both go in.” The two men went into the room. The Doctor sat in the chair and Sherlock stood to the side. The Doctor glanced out at the window and saw Amy, Kate, Martha and Mickey looking at them. The cube continued to count down. “We have five minutes,” the Doctor said quietly.

“Start asking questions,” Sherlock said.

The Doctor nodded. “Who are you? Who sent you? Why are you here? What is your plan?”

There was no reaction from the cube until a minute had passed, and then it simply said “Four.”

Sherlock circled around to the cube and picked it up. “It appears to be the same as the other cubes,” he murmured. “I don’t see a speaker or anything.”

“How is it getting the sound out?” the Doctor asked, getting up from the chair.

“I don’t know.” The Doctor joined him and they looked over the cube in silence as it counted down to two. Sherlock set the cube back down. “I don’t think we’ll get answers from it. I believe that it’s simply a timer counting down.”

“That is not good,” the Doctor replied. “I want answers.”

“Then we’ll have to see what Williams finds out,” Sherlock said quietly, hoping Kate didn’t hear him.

“Yes, I suppose so.” They waited as the cube counted down to one. “I hope he comes through,” the Doctor whispered.

“I hope so too.” The Doctor sat back down and they looked at the cube as it said “Zero.” Within seconds the Doctor arched back and grabbed his chest. “It stopped!”

“Doctor!” Sherlock called out, going to him. “What happened?”

The door flung open and Amy, Martha and Mickey burst into the room, Kate hovering behind them. “One of my hearts stopped!” the Doctor said through gritted teeth.

“You didn’t check on yourself when you hopped through time?” Martha asked, going over to him.

“I had two hearts! I figured if one stopped I’d be fine!” He grimaced. “How can all of you function with only one heart?”

“Are you in pain?” Amy asked as Sherlock’s cell phone rang. Sherlock moved out of Amy’s way as she went to the Doctor’s other side.

“Yes, I’m in pain!” the Doctor spat out, giving her a mild glare.

“I’m just asking,” Amy said, glaring right back. “I’m your friend. I’m concerned.”

“What?” Sherlock said sharply from the corner of the room, and even the Doctor forgot that he was in pain as all of them stared at him. “Elizabeth, slow down. Now tell me again?”

“What happened?” Mickey asked, but Sherlock raised a hand.

“I’ll be there shortly,” Sherlock said, hanging up. He made his way over to the Doctor. “Did you check on Mycroft when you checked on everyone?”

“I thought I had,” the Doctor said, grimacing.

“Well apparently you missed something. His heart has stopped and Elizabeth is panicking.” He looked at Amy. “I have to go.”

“Of course,” she said with a nod. “Do you want me to go with you?”

Sherlock shook his head. “No. I just… I need to go.”

“All right. Be careful.” She reached over for his hand and squeezed it.

“I’ll have someone take you,” Kate said. Sherlock nodded and the two of them left.

“This bloody _hurts_ ,” the Doctor said.

“You should take him to the hospital,” Mickey said to Amy. “To St. Bart’s.”

“But they don’t have emergency services,” Amy said. “Won’t it look strange?”

“I imagine people all over are going to any hospital they can, emergency services or not,” Martha said. “When you get there, find a defibrillator. See if you can restart his heart with that.”

“Got it,” Amy said with a nod. “Come on, Doctor. Get up.”

“It hurts,” he said, his voice sounding more like a whine.

“Don’t be such a baby,” Amy said, offering him her hand. “You still have one working heart and that’s better than a good chunk of the population right now.”

“I thought you’d be more caring,” the Doctor said.

“If you keep acting like this the whole way to St. Bart’s I may have to hurt you. I’m already at the end of my rope today and the fact that you forgot to check on Mycroft hasn’t made me all that happy with you.” She pulled the Doctor up with Mickey’s help. Then she turned to Mickey and Martha. “How am I going to get him out of here? If people’s hearts stopped while they were driving, the roads will be a mess.”

“There’s always the helicopter,” Mickey said slowly. “There might be space on the roof to land.”

“That could work,” Martha said with a nod. “Get River to meet you there and let you in. Give us a few minutes to set things up.”

“Fine,” the Doctor said. “Just hurry.” Martha and Mickey left with Amy and the Doctor shuffling behind them. “I’m sorry about not checking on Mycroft.”

“I’m not the one you need to apologize to,” Amy said, putting an arm around his waist to support him. He in turn put an arm around her shoulders. “Since Elizabeth returned, we’ve tried to get the two of them to spend more time together. It’s been slow going, but they don’t despise each other anymore. I think they might actually even care about each other. Sherlock might not show it, but if anything happened to his brother I don’t think he could take it.”

“Then I will apologize to him when I see him.”

“I just hope that Mycroft pulls through. You said there were no casualties from this?”

“That we know of,” he said quietly as he grimaced. “People died today no matter what. We just don’t know how much of it was caused by the cubes.”

“Then you had best hope Mycroft survives today,” Amy said. “Because if he doesn’t I don’t think Sherlock will ever forgive you.”

“I know.”

Amy shifted his weight slightly. “Come on. Let’s get going so I can call my daughter and we can get you into that hospital. Hopefully Rory is having better luck than the rest of us.”

“I hope so too.”

\--

It was incredibly busy at the hospital. Even though St. Bart’s didn’t have emergency services, people were coming in anyway. The hospital staff was taking them in, at least until they hit capacity, because it was the right thing to do. But the doctors and nurses were therefore being overworked, which included Rory. He was still trying to figure out exactly what he was supposed to find when he was wheeling a patient to a room. Then he spotted something odd. There was a little girl with no parents around, and two nurses nearby. All of them had blank looks on their faces, but as he stopped and stared he saw they had slightly glowing eyes. _That_ was peculiar, he reckoned. He passed the patient off to another nurse and turned to look at the three strange people. They were heading over to a section of the hospital that was cordoned off, and one of the nurses was pushing a gurney.

“Williams!” The nurse he’d handed the patient to asked. “What are you doing?”

“Got to go to the loo,” Rory said. “Can’t hold it forever.”

The nurse gave an exasperated sigh. “Fine. But hurry. We’re overwhelmed today. Whatever the bloody hell is going on with the cubes is causing everything to go wonky.”

Rory nodded and looked back to where the three people had been, but they were gone. He walked quickly in that direction, and looking around when he got to the part of the hospital that was cordoned off. He could tell that someone had been there; the floor had been mopped recently so the gurney had made tracks through the water onto the dry part of the hallway. He ducked under the tape cordoning off the area and made his way down the hallway. At the end was a lift. He looked around, but there were no more wheel tracks to guide him.

With a sigh, he tried to put a hand on the lift door. To his surprise, his hand went right through the door. He nearly stumbled inside whatever it was, but he pulled himself back just in time. He stared at the door a moment more, then put his hand on it again. It went through again. “I found it,” he murmured. He took a step back and pulled his cell phone out of his scrubs. He pulled up Molly’s number and hit call.

“Hello?” she said after a moment.

“Molly, I found it,” he said. “I found the big thing I was supposed to find. It’s over near the area that’s blocked—“ But then he felt a sharp pain on the back of his head. He dropped the phone as the two nurses caught him as he slumped down, and they dragged him through the portal. The only sound in the room was Molly calling Rory’s name through his phone. Her voice ended after a moment, and then there was nothing but silence.

\--

“Sherlock!” Elizabeth flung the door open at Sherlock’s insistent pounding. He took a good look at her. He had never known Elizabeth to panic, even in the most challenging of situations. She looked absolutely distraught. Perhaps she cared more for his brother than he had ever realized. “The Doctor said everyone would be fine. Why did he lie to us?”

“He didn’t lie. He simply neglected to check on Mycroft. Where is he?” Sherlock asked, shifting his hold of the machine Kate had pressed into his hands before he left UNIT headquarters. He had a vague idea how to use an AED device. He just hoped that he didn’t do more harm to his brother than good.

“In the sitting room,” she said. “Is that an AED machine?”

Sherlock nodded as they walked. “The head of UNIT gave it to me before she sent me here. Apparently no one at UNIT was affected today except the Doctor.”

“What happened to him?”

“One of his hearts stopped. Since he has two he’s still walking around. Kate decided to give this to me.” They made their way down the hallway at a quickened pace. Elizabeth pushed open the door and Sherlock took in the scene. Mycroft was slumped over on his sofa. “Get him on the floor and unbutton his shirt. If I remember correctly, this needs to be against bare skin.”

“I know how to use it,” she said. “You get him ready. I’ll deal with the device.”

“Very well,” Sherlock said with a nod. He went over to Mycroft, helping him off the sofa and onto the floor. Before he set him down completely Sherlock removed his suit jacket. He then began to undo the buttons of his brother’s shirt but he found his hands were trembling. The Holmes brothers still had issues, and years’ worth of hurt did not disappear even after the efforts of the women they cared for. Still, this was his brother, the only biological family of his that he cared about other than his daughter. He didn’t want to think about what he would do if his brother was a casualty today.

When he was done Elizabeth got the machine ready. She put the electrodes on Mycroft’s chest (in all the correct places, Sherlock hoped) and looked at Sherlock. “Ready?” He nodded. She took a deep breath and pushed a button on the device. Mycroft jerked slightly, but when she felt for a pulse he realized nothing else had happened. “It didn’t work!” she said.

“Try again,” Sherlock said insistently.

Elizabeth nodded, removing her fingers and pushing the button again. This time Mycroft jerked again, and when Elizabeth felt for a pulse she felt fluttering under her fingers. “It worked,” she said quietly.

“Mycroft,” Sherlock said as his brother began to stir.

“Why is my shirt open?” he asked as his eyes fluttered open. Elizabeth threw herself at him when he sat up, hugging him. He cautiously hugged her back. “I was one of the victims, wasn’t I?”

Sherlock nodded. “Yes. Kate gave me an AED machine and we used it to restart your heart.”

“That’s not generally how they work,” Mycroft said with a frown as Elizabeth pulled away. “They are meant to regulate a heartbeat, not restart one.”

“Then perhaps what has happened wasn’t what we assumed,” Sherlock said with a frown. He stood up from his kneeling position. “I need to call Amy. See if the Doctor is nearby.”

“Why?” Mycroft asked.

“Because one of his hearts stopped. I need to tell her to use the machine to restart it.” He pulled out his phone and dialed Amy’s number, pacing as he waited. It rang and rang but she didn’t pick up. Finally it went to voicemail, and he hung up without leaving a message. “I need to go back to UNIT headquarters.”

“Sherlock,” Mycroft said, and Sherlock turned to look at him. “Thank you,” he said quietly.

“You’re my brother. I couldn’t take the risk that you wouldn’t survive today,” Sherlock said just as quietly.

“I’m coming with you,” Mycroft said as Elizabeth helped him stand up.

“Your heart just stopped,” Sherlock said, his jaw hanging slightly.

“And you and Elizabeth brought me back to life,” Mycroft said as he began to rebutton his shirt. “I want to make sure that everything else goes smoothly today.”

Sherlock looked to argue for a moment, but then he stopped. “Fine. I’m assuming they’re still at UNIT headquarters. Unless…”

“Unless what?” Elizabeth asked. Mycroft paused in what he was doing to look at Sherlock.

“We know Williams is the key to what happens today. Perhaps they went to St. Bart’s,” Sherlock murmured.

“That would make sense,” Mycroft said with a nod. “Can you call your contacts at UNIT to find out for sure?”

“I’ll call Mickey,” Sherlock said, pulling out his phone again as Mycroft finished setting himself to rights. It rang three times before he heard the click of someone answering. He didn’t wait for a greeting. “Where are Amy and the Doctor?”

“Just left by helicopter to get to St. Bart’s,” Mickey said. “Your daughter is going to meet them on the roof. But traffic’s a mess, mate. I mean, how long did it take you to get to your brother’s place?”

“Longer than I would have liked,” Sherlock admitted. “And we had sirens going.”

“You aren’t going to have that on the way to the hospital,” Mickey said.

“Still, we need to try and get there,” Sherlock said.

“Let me see if I can get the copper who drove you to turn around and go back for you,” Mickey said. “I’ll call you back in a bit.”

“Very well,” Sherlock said with a nod despite the fact that Mickey couldn’t see it. He hung up and lowered his phone. “He’s going to try and see if he can get the policeman to turn around and bring us to St. Bart’s quickly.”

“Good,” Mycroft said, fixing his tie. “I want to make sure the threat is taken care of once and for all. And I would like to voice my displeasure to the Doctor for neglecting to check on me and causing therefore Elizabeth undue worry.”

“If Amelia hasn’t already beaten you to it,” Sherlock said with a faint smile. “I imagine she’s very put out with our son-in-law at the moment.”

“So now we wait?” Elizabeth asked, reaching over for Mycroft’s hand. Mycroft entwined his fingers in hers and grasped it tightly.

Sherlock looked at their joined hands. “Yes. Now we wait.”

\--

“Is he being a big baby?” River asked as Amy and the Doctor exited the helicopter on the roof.

“Yes,” Amy said as the Doctor glared at both of them. “And I’m not happy with him right now.”

“Why?” River asked.

“Mycroft’s heart stopped,” Amy said quietly.

River froze, and then after a moment she slapped the back of her husband’s head with her palm. “How could you neglect to check on my uncle?” she said, her voice raising slightly.

“I’m sorry!” he said. “I forgot.”

River shook her head. “Come in. Molly’s absolutely distraught. Rory found something and called her but then he disappeared mid-conversation. She’s worried that something has happened to him.”

“I didn’t check on any of you here in the hospital, either,” the Doctor said as they got into the stairwell. “But I know he’s not dead. You wouldn’t have memories of him if he was.”

“Time can change,” River said. She stopped at the top of the stairs. “Sit down a moment, Doctor.”

“Why?” he asked warily.

“So I can restart your heart,” she replied, pointing to something near the top of the stairs. “I brought it up with me. I figured it would save us some time.”

“Smart idea,” Amy said to her daughter with a smile.

“Dad has one in his lab. I grabbed it as soon as I got your call,” River said as the Doctor sat down. She went to the machine. “I think they’re in all the labs, just in case. Easier to grab one of those than wheel one in.”

“Less talking, more heart restarting,” the Doctor said with a grimace.

“Stop being a baby,” Amy and River chorused as River went for the machine.

“It _hurts_!” the Doctor said.

“Open his shirt,” River said. Amy went over and unbuttoned the Doctor’s shirt. Once his skin was bare River asked, “Which heart is it?”

“Left one,” he replied.

River put the electrodes on the left side of his chest, and then when she was done she turned her attention to the machine. “Let’s hope this works,” she murmured.

“Any time now,” the Doctor said. River pushed a button on the machine, and the Doctor jerked slightly. After a moment the Doctor grinned. “Hello, lefty! It worked!”

“Good,” Amy said, letting out the breath she had been holding. “Now we can go find out what’s going on.”

“Right, right,” the Doctor said as River removed the pads from his chest. He got to his feet quickly and began rebuttoning his shirt. “Does Molly know where Rory was when he called?”

“Not for sure, but she has a good idea. She went to go check it out when I came up here.”

The Doctor’s eyes widened and he paused in what he was doing. “No, no, _no_. That was not a good idea,” he said.

“She insisted. It’s her husband we’re talking about.” River finished putting the machine back to how it had been before she used it. “It’s on the third floor, in an area marked off for construction. No one’s really seen people going in and out, but at a hospital this large no one asked questions. She headed there just after she called me.”

“Then we’ll head down there now,” the Doctor said, finishing with his shirt. “I just hope we aren’t too late.”

With that, the three of them ran down the stairs to the third floor and burst out after a moment. There was still chaos in the halls, and River guided them to the area blocked off for construction. They all ducked under the barrier and looked around. “There’s nothing here but a goods lift,” Amy said with a frown.

River knelt down to pick something up. “And Molly’s mobile,” she said quietly. She looked at it. “It looks like she was trying to call me.”

The Doctor whipped out his sonic screwdriver and pointed it at the lift. “Oh, we are definitely in the right place,” he replied. He looked at Amy, then at River. “Care to step through the looking glass?”

“It’s a portal?” Amy asked.

The Doctor nodded. “And there’s only one way to find out where it goes. Shall we?” He slipped his sonic into his coat pocket, then offered a hand to Amy and a hand to River. “Let’s take a trip, shall we?”

The two women grabbed his hands and stepped through. After a moment of disorientation, they were on the other side. “Where are we?” River asked.

“On a spaceship,” the Doctor said.

“Rory! Molly!” Amy said after a moment, rushing to two of the gurneys nearby. The Doctor came over to her, glancing at the other gurneys as he went. He pulled something out of his pocket and handed it to Amy. “What’s this?” she asked.

“Soborian smelling salts. Illegal in seven galaxies. Just wave them under their noses, then work on getting the others out.” He paused. “Any who are still alive, at any rate,” he added quietly.

Amy nodded and got to work. River joined the Doctor as Rory woke up. “Do you think they are still alive? The others?” she asked.

“I doubt it, but it doesn’t hurt to check.” He glanced back to the others and saw Molly sit up as Amy waved the vial under her nose. “Come on. Let’s find out who is behind all of this.” The two of them were walking up to a bank of monitors when suddenly laser shots were fired. “Amy! Get them out of here quickly!” he called out as he and River took cover.

“They aren’t waking up!” Amy said.

“Then leave them. You can’t save them. Get out of here!” He glanced back and saw Rory, Molly and Amy head back to the portal and disappear through the other side. Then he looked at River. “Let’s see if we can get him to listen to reason.”

“He’s shooting at us, love,” she said, pulling something out of her coat pocket. “I doubt he will see reason.”

“It doesn’t hurt to _try_ ,” he said as River stood. “And I want answers.”

River sighed. “Fine. I won’t shoot first. But if he aims for either of us, I may change my mind.”

“Fine.” He stood up again and then his eyes widened. “No. It can’t be.”

“What?” River asked.

“You are the Shakri,” the Doctor said slowly to the alien who had been shooting at them. “But you can’t be. You’re a story told to Gallifreyan children to keep them in their place. The nightmare stuff of fables.”

“We are the Shakri,” the alien said as it disappeared. Then it reappeared at the bank of monitors. “We have come to wipe out the plague before it spreads.”

“What does it mean?” River asked.

“It means to wipe out humanity before you lot colonize space,” he replied.

“We are the Seven,” the alien said.

“Seven ships, connected through seven portals,” the Doctor murmured. Then he looked directly at the alien. “Why the cubes?”

“To wipe out humanity. Humanity is a plague,” the Shakri said.

“Oi, who are you calling a plague?” Amy called from in front of the portal. Rory and Molly were right behind her, Rory holding the salts. He and Molly went to the other gurneys as Amy came forward.

“I thought I told you three to go,” the Doctor said.

“You should know better by now,” Amy said, rolling her eyes.

“The Tally must be served,” the alien said.

“The Shakri are the universe’s pest controllers, or so they like to think of themselves. Lot of rubbish, I say,” he said to Amy and River. Then he turned back to the alien. “Why cubes? No, wait. You wanted the humans to collect them, to drop their guard around them. The cubes appeared harmless, and then you struck.”

“The second wave will be released,” the Shakri said.

“Does that mean what I think it means?” River asked as the Doctor’s eyes widened.

“They mean to kill people with a second wave of heart stoppages,” the Doctor said. The alien blinked out, and the Doctor went to the terminal near the monitors.

“Where did it go?” Amy asked, joining him.

“It was never really here. It’s just an interface.” He began to do things on the terminal. “I’m going to end it all. I’m going to stop the Shakri and restart everyone’s hearts.”

“You’d need some sort of mass defibrillation,” Rory called over to them. “No one else woke up.”

“Then their hearts have stopped for too long,” the Doctor said with a sigh. “But I can save everyone else. I hope.”

“You’re going to use the cubes against the Shakri,” River said as her eyes widened.

“Exactly. It should work. Or at least, I hope it does. If not…” Then he shook his head. “It will work.”

“What about the aliens?” Molly asked.

“I’ll cut them off from their portals, stranding them in dark space,” he said. He hit one final key on the keypad and watched the monitors. The others watched as well, and images flooded the screens of people whose hearts had stopped starting to move again. “It worked,” the Doctor said, letting out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. Then he turned back to the keypad. “Now, to stop them once and for all.”

“How are you going to do that?” Amy asked.

“Destroy the portals,” he replied, tapping a few more keys.

“But what if the portals are on the ships?” Amy asked. “I mean, they are, right?”

The Doctor looked triumphant for a moment as he punched one last key, and then he frowned. “Yes. Of course. Right then. We should hurry, or else we’ll be trapped here as the portals collapse.” He grabbed River’s hand and pulled her towards the portal. “Running would be good.”

The two of them headed towards the portal, followed closely by Amy, Rory and Molly. The three of them had just stepped through the portal and were back at St. Bart’s when smoke billowed through for a moment, then stopped. “You almost got us killed!” Amy said, looking at the Doctor.

“Well, if you hadn’t come back that wouldn’t have been an issue,” he said, dusting himself off. “Why did you come back?”

“To see if we could save anyone else,” Rory said. “It was the right thing to do.”

The Doctor nodded, then slung an arm around Rory’s shoulders. “How does it feel to be the hero of the day?”

Rory flushed slightly. “I’m no hero. They caught me, remember?”

“But you found the portal. Things could have been so much worse if you hadn’t been observing things.” The Doctor grinned at him. “I think you are a hero.”

“I suppose,” he said after a moment.

“Amelia!” Sherlock’s voice rang through the hallway. Amy looked up and grinned at her husband, who had Elizabeth and Mycroft behind him. He came over and embraced her. “Are you all right?”

“Oh, we’re fine,” she said, holding him tight. After a few moments she pulled away and looked towards Mycroft. “Nice to see you up and about,” she said with a smile towards her brother-in-law.

“Yes, it is rather nice,” Mycroft replied. “Is the threat taken care of?”” he asked the Doctor.

The Doctor nodded. “Yes. There will be no more attacks on humanity.”

“Good,” Mycroft said with a nod. “I believe it would be best if you reassured Ms. Stewart of that fact.”

“I was planning on it,” he replied. “Why don’t all of you go somewhere while I do that?”

“I still have to finish my shift,” Rory said.

“I do as well,” Molly replied.

“Then as soon as you’re finished we can all reconvene somewhere,” the Doctor replied.

“Let’s all meet at our home,” Amy said as she took Sherlock’s hand in hers. “I can make dinner for all of us.”

“I’ll wait around here with Rory and Molly,” River said towards the Doctor. “I’ll meet you in the TARDIS later.”

“Very well. I will see all of you soon.” He gave his wife a quick kiss on the cheek and then went over to Mycroft and Elizabeth. “Shall we be off?”

Mycroft nodded. “Very well,” he said, and the three of them walked away.

Sherlock looked at Amy. “I think we should leave everyone to get back to work,” he said.

“Probably,” she said with a smile. Then she turned to Molly and Rory. “Please come by when you’re done. As the Doctor said, Rory, you’re the hero of the day.”

Sherlock nodded slightly. “Yes. I would like to hear the full story, and I know there are details the two of you are unaware of.”

“If you’re sure, mate,” Rory said with just a twinge of uncertainty.

Sherlock nodded again, more strongly. “I am. You are welcome in our home now, the both of you.”

River grinned at her father. “You have no idea how happy that makes me, Dad,” she said quietly.

“River,” he said warningly.

“We’re the only ones here. No one overheard.” She went over to her parents and gave them each a hug as they let go of each other’s hands. “I’ll come visit again soon for a proper visit,” she said as she pulled away from her father.

“You’d better,” Amy said with a smile as she took Sherlock’s hand again. “We’ll see you later.” And with that, Sherlock and Amy left, leaving the others standing there with grins on their faces.

“Back to work, right?” Molly asked her husband, her grin widening.

He nodded. “Right.” Then he gave her a quick kiss. “I’ll see the both of you later.”

River gave him a quick hug. “Oh, I plan on it.” He waved at them, and they waved back before they began to make their way towards the lift to go back to the morgue. “So. How are you feeling?”

“Different,” Molly said. “Is it always like this?”

“Not usually so much catastrophe,” River said. “But it is quite exciting at times.”

“I will be happy when things get back to normal,” she said. “When all the cubes are gone and we can all move on.”

“Yes, that will be nice.” She looked at her new friend. “Would you consider traveling with him?”

“With the Doctor?” Molly asked, and River nodded. “I don’t know. Possibly.”

“Well, maybe I can convince him to take you and Rory somewhere nice. You two deserve it.” River linked her arm through Molly’s. “Right now, though, I think we deserve a celebratory cuppa, don’t you?”

“I suppose,” Molly said with a widening smile.

“Hospital cafeteria, here we come,” River said, and with that the two of them began to chat about other things, relieved that the threat was gone.

\--

It was packed at 221 Baker Street when the Doctor arrived a few hours later. The occupants of the home were there, Mrs. Hudson included, as were Mycroft, Elizabeth, John, Lorna, Rory, Molly, Mickey, Martha and Elisha. He came in and looked around, taking a moment to observe them all unnoticed. These were his friends and family, he thought to himself. He’d do anything to keep them safe, and he was glad they were all right.

“Oi! Doctor!” Amy called over. “Stew’s on the stove. It will be ready in a few minutes. How did it go?”

“Quite well,” the Doctor said with a grin. “UNIT is beginning to collect the cubes and will dispose of them, just in case. I don’t think they’ll ever be used for their intended purpose again, but it doesn’t hurt to be sure.”

“That’s going to mean extra hours at work,” Mickey said with a slight grin, Elisha on his lap. “We can definitely use them.”

“I don’t have much in the room,” the Doctor said. “I can get it all out in a manner of minutes.”

“I saw the state of it,” Mrs. Hudson said. “Lasers?”

“I’m so sorry,” the Doctor replied, going up to her. “I’ll take care of it, I promise.”

“Well, it wouldn’t hurt to change the wallpaper, I suppose,” Mrs. Hudson said.

“When this is all over we should go somewhere. All of us. And maybe I can invite a few others,” the Doctor said, going over to Mrs. Hudson and squeezing her shoulders. “There is someone I would definitely like you to meet, if he’s willing, Mrs. Hudson.”

“Not trying to set me up on a date, are you?” she asked, raising an eyebrow slightly.

“Who, me? Never. Ask the others. I’m rubbish at matchmaking.”

“That is so true,” John said with a chuckle. “If he was better at it, I probably would have been in my current relationship months earlier.”

“It’s just as much my fault as his,” Lorna said with a smile. “I can’t believe we missed all the excitement.”

“There’s bits of it I’m glad I missed,” John said with a slight shudder. “I don’t think I would have taken to kindly to an alien ordering my extermination. Or being shot at. I _hate_ being shot at.”

“It’s been months since that happened,” Sherlock said, pulling himself away from the conversation he was having with his brother. “And remember, the last time either of us were shot at, I got hit and ended up in the hospital for a bit.”

“True. I suppose I shouldn’t complain,” John said. Then he turned to the Doctor. “What are your plans now, Doctor?”

“Spend some time with my wife, take all of you on a grand adventure, and help Sherlock with a puzzle of his. I’ll try and find a new companion, I suppose. And there’s always the mystery with the Silence.” He looked at all of them. “Don’t think I’ll leave you all to your own devices for long, though. You know me. I like to meddle.”

“Well, dinner’s ready, if everyone would like to eat. Sherlock, will you start slicing the bread?” Amy called over from the kitchen. Sherlock nodded, moving away from Mycroft and heading into the kitchen. Then she turned to the Doctor. “Are you going to stay and eat with us?”

“Actually, River would very much like some time alone with me,” the Doctor said with a grin. “She’s been most insistent. I’m going to get my things and then go.”

“Well, come back soon,” Amy replied, leaving the kitchen to give him a hug. As soon as she released him the others came over, either hugging him or shaking his hand. “Tell River we love her.”

“I will. See all of you later!” The Doctor called out, giving them all a slight wave. He went to the room he had been using, gathered his few belongings, and then he left again, smiling at the sounds of happy chatter and laughter from the common room. Then he got to the door and left. The TARDIS was still parked on the corner, where it had sat for the last hundred days. When he got to the doors, he snapped his fingers and they opened. He heard humming before he saw River, who was looking intently at the monitor. “Honey, I’m home,” he said as he stepped inside and shut the door behind him.

“About time, too,” she said, turning towards him and giving him a dazzling smile. “How are Mum and Dad?”

“Very well. Your mum said to tell you she loves you.” He walked to the console and set his belongings down on the chair before going to her. “I think everyone is handling the day’s events quite well.”

“That’s good.” He stood in front of her and she began to toy with his bow tie. “I would very much like some time with you, all by myself.”

“You have me for as long as you want me,” he said with a smile.

“Would forever be all right?” she asked, undoing the bow tie.

“Forever would be fine,” he said, settling his hands on her waist.

“Then let’s go somewhere where we can be alone,” she said. “I’ve already set the course. Now we just need to go.”

“We can stay here a little longer,” he said.

“Doctor, are you thinking naughty thoughts?” River asked with a chuckle, raising an eyebrow slightly.

“They aren’t naughty because you’re my wife,” he said, sliding his arms around to holding her.

She laughed this time, a full and throaty laugh, then slid her arms up so they were around his neck. “Well, I’ve had some not-so-naughty thoughts about my husband,” she said. “Perhaps I can show you?”

“I would like that very much,” he said before leaning in to kiss her. In this moment, all was right in the world, and that was all that mattered.


End file.
